I  B  R.AR.Y 

OF   THE 
UNIVERSITY 
OF    ILLINOIS 


977. 


'•    H 


ILLINOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


B 


The  Publication  Committee  of  the  Caxton 
Club  certifies  that  this  copy  of  "The 
Development  of  Chicago"  is  one  of  an 
edition  consisting  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  copies  on  Italian  Hand- 
made paper  and  three  copies  on  Imperial 
Japanese  Vellum,  printed  from  type  and 
completed  in  the  month  of  May  MCMXVI. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

1674-1914 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


3 


- 


THE  DEVELOPMENT 

OF 

CHICAGO 

1674- 1914 

SHOWN  IN  A  SERIES  OF  CONTEMPORARY 
ORIGINAL  NARRATIVES 

.  SL     •' 

Compiled  and  Edited  by 

MILO  MILTON  QUAJFE 

Superintendent  of  the  State  Historical  Society 


of  Wisconsin 


CHICAGO 

THE  CAXTON  CLUB 
M  CM  XVI 


5 

N 

•3 


'f; 


THE  DEVELOPMENT 

OF 

CHICAGO 

1674-1914 

SHOWN  IN  A  SERIES  OF  CONTEMPORARY 
ORIGINAL  NARRATIVES 

Compiled  and  Edited  by 

MILO  MILTON  QUAIFE 

Superintendent  of  the  State  Historical  Society 
of  Wisconsin 


CHICAGO 

THE  CAXTON  CLUB 
M  CM  XVI 


V 


Copyright,  1916,  by 
The  Caxton  Club,  Chicago 


PREFACE 

I  am  minded  to  begin  my  prefatory  note  by  telling  a  Chicago 
story;  if  I  do  not  tell  it  well  it  will  not  matter  provided  the  moral 
is  clear.  During  the  World's  Fair  of  1893  some  French  visitors 
were  one  day  comparing  the  city  they  had  come  to  see  with  their 
own  great  metropolis,  to  the  manifest  disadvantage  of  the  former. 
"And  how  long,"  asked  a  Chicago  woman,  herself  of  French  descent 
and  familiar  with  the  language,  "have  you  been  developing  your 
city  of  Paris?  Do  you  expect  us  to  do  in  sixty  years  as  much  as 
you  have  done  in  a  thousand?  Only  give  us  time  and  see  what 
we  will  accomplish." 

The  moral  of  the  story  chiefly  concerns  the  principal  actor  in 
it.  She  had  come  as  a  child  to  Chicago  when  it  was  an  insignificant 
military  outpost  in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness,  with  the  Pota- 
watomi  still  lords  of  all  the  adjacent  region.  As  these  lines  are 
penned,  she  still  resides  in  the  community  of  her  childhood  adop- 
tion, grown  from  a  wilderness  outpost  to  America's  second  city, 
and  fifth  metropolis  of  the  world.  In  memory  she  sees  the  lonely 
hamlet  of  1830,  clustered  around  the  stcckade  fort  beside  the 
sluggish  river;  pictures  of  dusky  throngs  gathered  periodically  to 
receive  their  treaty  payments,  of  panic  paleface  rout  before  the 
tomahawk  and  scalping  knife  of  Black  Hawk's  followers,  pass 
before  her  mind;  while  around  her  flows  and  throbs  unceasingly 
the  rushing  life  of  the  city  of  two  and  a  half  millions,  and  to  her 
ears  comes  a  babel  of  tongues  still  stranger  than  the  Potawatomi 
she  learned  to  speak  in  childhood.  I  can  think  of  no  more  mar- 
velous development  in  all  history  than  the  one  spanned  by  this 
single  lifetime  on  the  banks  of  Chicago  River. 

In  view  of  the  rapidity  and  the  recency  of  her  development  it 
^  is  not  to  be  expected  as  yet  that  Chicago  shall  give  much  heed  to 
her  past.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  she  has  an  interesting  past, 
the  records  of  which  stretch  back  farther  than  most  men  realize; 
and  a  knowledge  of  and  reverence  for  one's  past  constitutes  a 


PREFACE 

potent  cultural  influence,  whether  in  the  life  of  an  individual  or  of 
a  community.  The  present  volume  attempts  to  visualize  the  devel- 
opment of  Chicago  and  the  tributary  region  from  seventeenth- 
century  savagery  to  twentieth-century  civilization  by  grouping  a 
considerable  number  of  the  more  interesting  accounts  that  have 
been  written  of  it  from  the  first  recorded  visit  of  white  men  down 
to  the  present  day. 

A  few  words  may  be  offered  concerning  the  conception  of  the 
project  and  its  execution.  In  preparing  the  volume  I  have  followed 
no  conscious  model,  and  so  far  as  I  am  aware  the  plan  of  it  is 
unique.  The  chief  obstacle  to  its  execution  was  the  difficulty,  in 
many  cases  insurmountable,  of  finding  suitable  material  for  certain 
periods  which  it  was  desired  to  illuminate.  With  but  few  excep- 
tions the  selections  offered  are  travelers'  narratives  and  journals. 
Gathered  from  many  sources,  they  are  necessarily  of  uneven 
interest  and  value.  In  transcribing  the  selections  taken  from 
published  works  the  liberty  has  been  exercised  of  disregarding,  on 
occasion,  the  typographical  style  of  the  original  volume,  but  in  no 
case  has  the  work  of  the  author  himself  been  altered.  The  editorial 
work  has  designedly  been  confined  to  the  minimum;  naturally  the 
earlier  selections  call  for  more  of  annotation  than  do  the  later  ones. 

Although  duly  acknowledged  in  another  place,  I  take  pleasure 
in  here  calling  attention  to  the  generosity  of  the  Burrows  Brothers 
Company,  the  Century  Company,  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  Harper  and  Brothers,  and  George  H.  Doran 
Company,  publishers,  in  permitting  me  to  reprint  portions  of 
books  copyrighted  by  them.  Acknowledgment  of  courtesies 
rendered  is  also  due  the  Michigan  Historical  Commission  and  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society;  and  to  Marjorie  Park  and  Lydia  Brauer 
of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library  staff  for  much  accurate  and 
faithful  labor  in  preparing  the  manuscript  and  index,  and  in  seeing 
them  through  the  press. 

MlLO   M.   QUAtFE. 
MADISON,  WISCONSIN,  March  i,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

Part  I.    The  Seventeenth  Century 

i  AOK 

Historical  Introduction — Part  I 9 

Father  Marquette's  Sojourn  at  Chicago,  1674-75      ....  15 

The  Narrative  of  Joutel,  1687-88        21 

The  Letter  of  Father  St.  Cosme,  1699 37 

Part  II.    A  Military  Outpost 

Historical  Introduction — Part  II 49 

William  Johnston's  Tour  from  Fort  Wayne  to  Chicago,  1809  55 

Chicago  from  1803  to  1812 61 

A  Government  Factor's  Journal:   Chicago  from  1816  to  1822  71 

Judge  Storrow's  Tour  of  the  Northwest,  1817       83 

Mrs.  Baird's  Excursion  to  Chicago,  1817 95 

Governor  Cass's  Tour  of  1820 99 

Major  Long's  Expedition  of  1823 109 

Part  III.    The  Birth  of  Modern  Chicago 

Historical  Introduction — Part  III 129 

Chicago  in  the  Black  Hawk  War 135 

The  Treaty  of  1833 143 

A  Winter  Visit,  1834 J6i 

Harriet  Martineau's  Visit,  1836 177 

Joseph  Jefferson's  Reminiscences,  1838 185 

The  Annals  of  Chicago  in  1840 193 


CONTENTS 


Part  IV.    A  Metropolis  Develops 


I'ACE 


Historical  Introduction — Part  IV 203 

Fredrika  Bremer's  Visit,  1850 207 

A  Canadian  Business  Man's  Impressions,  1857     .....  217 

Chicago  in  Springtime,  1858 221 

A  Great  Reporter's  Observations,  1881 225 

In  the  World's  Fair  Year,  1893 235 

At  the  Close  of  the  Century,  1899 253 

An  English  Socialist's  Reflections,  1906       259 

Arnold  Bennett's  Observations,  1912       263 

The  Conclusion  of  the  Matter 267 

Index 277 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Death  of  Marquette Frontispiece 

From  drawing  for  mosaic,  Marquette  Building,  Chicago,  by  J.  A.  Holzer. 

Starved  Rock,  the  Site  of  Fort  St.  Louis opposite    2O 

Mount  Joliet opposite    37 

From  Schoolcraft's  Travels  in  the  Central  Portioni  of  .'he  Mississippi  Valley. 

Facsimile  of  William  Shenstone's  Poems opposite    6 1 


Parti 
The  Seventeenth  Century 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 
PART  I 


earliest  record  that  has  come  down  to  us  of  the 
coming  of  white  men  to  Chicago  is  that  of  Jolliet 
and  Marquette's  visit  in  the  summer  of  1673,  while 
returning  from  their  famous  voyage  of  exploration 
of  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
in  the  local  historiography  that  for  a  generation 
following  this  initial  record  accounts  of  the  visits 
of  white  men  to  Chicago  are  relatively  frequent  and 
satisfactory.  There  ensues  upon  this  a  period  of  almost  a  hundred  years, 
coinciding  roughly  with  the  eighteenth  century,  during  which  the  records 
are  for  the  most  part  silent.  Not  entirely  silent,  for  here  and  there  are 
to  be  found  brief  notes  of  the  presence  of  white  men  on  the  site  of  the 
future  metrop6lis;  but  the  entire  eighteenth  century  does  not  afford  a 
single  record  which  even  approximates  in  detail  and  interest  the  shortest 
of  the  three  seventeenth-century  narratives  which  are  here  presented. 
That  such  records  exist  and  will  some  day  be  brought  to  light  the  present 
writer  at  least  is  optimistic  enough  to  believe;  thus  far,  however,  if  any 
do  in  fact  exist,  they  slumber  in  concealment,  awaiting  the  coming  of 
some  future  fortunate  discoverer. 

In  this  opening  chapter  I  have  chosen  to  assemble  three  of  the  most 
interesting  known  records  of  seventeenth-century  Chicago.  The  first 
is  not  included  because  of  its  novelty,  since  few  characters  in  American 
history  have  so  taken  hold  of  the  popular  mind  as  has  gentle  Father 
Marquette.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  his  own  narrative  is  acces- 
sible only  in  a  costly  and  bulky  collection  which  practically  no  individuals, 
and  only  the  larger  and  more  important  libraries,  possess.  The  two 


io  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

remaining  narratives,  perhaps  equally  interesting  in  themselves,  possess 
more  of  novelty  to  the  usual  reader  than  does  Marquette's. 

While  Jolliet  and  Marquette  were  laboriously  making  their  way  up 
the  Mississippi  in  the  summer  of  1673,  they  received  from  the  Indians  a 
bit  of  information  interesting  both  to  them  and  to  us.  In  fine  they  were 
told  that  by  ascending  the  Illinois  River  they  would  find  a  shorter  and 
easier  route  back  to  Mackinac  than  that  by  which  they  had  come  out. 
Acting  upon  this  information  they  became  the  first  white  men,  so  far  as 
we  have  any  knowledge,  to  traverse  the  Illinois-Des  Plaines  River  route 
to  Chicago.  This  journey  was  directly  responsible  for  Marquette's  next 
and  final  one.  The  Illinois  Indians  had  welcomed  the  explorers,  and  had 
urged  Marquette  to  return  and  instruct  them.  This  he  promised  to  do; 
but  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise  was  delayed  for  nearly  a  year  by  the 
illness  which  was  shortly  to  terminate  his  career.  At  length  in  the  late 
autumn  of  1674  he  set  out  from  the  Jesuit  station  at  De  Pere,  accom- 
panied only  by  two  voyageurs  and  a  party  of  Indians,  to  make  his  way 
down  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Chicago  and  thence  to  the 
Illinois  village  one  hundred  miles  below.  We  take  up  Marquette's 
story  with  the  arrival  at  "the  river  of  the  portage" — Chicago.  Here  an 
aggravation  of  his  disease  together  with  the  inclemency  of  the  season 
compelled  a  halt  of  four  months.  Thus  it  came  about  that  our  first 
account  of  life  at  Chicago  pictures  the  doings  of  a  lonely  priest  passing 
the  dreary  winter  in  a  rude  hut,  animated  by  a  fiery  zeal  for  the  salvation 
of  the  savages  he  was  seeking,  the  while  his  physical  frame  was  shaken 
with  the  pangs  of  a  mortal  disease.  If  plain  living  and  high  thinking 
be  the  ideal  life,  no  locality  ever  launched  its  recorded  career  more 
auspiciously  than  did  Chicago  in  the  winter  of  1674-75. 

A  decade  and  more  passed  away.  The  bones  of  Marquette  slum- 
bered at  his  beloved  Mackinac  where  he  had  labored  from  1671  to  1673. 
The  masterful  La  Salle  had  wrought  at  his  dream  of  imperial  Louisiana 
and  perished,  leaving  to  his  compatriots  the  tiny  Fort  St.  Louis  perched 
on  its  lofty  rock,  and  to  posterity  the  memory  of  a  dauntless  soul.  From 
his  last  essay  and  its  mournful  failure  proceeds  our  second  narrative. 
There  is  no  need  to  repeat  here  the  story  of  the  ill-fated  Texas  expedition. 
Fleeing  from  its  wreck  there  came  up  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois  in 
the  summer  of  1687,  a  band  of  five  forlorn  individuals.  One  of  them 
was  Cavelier,  brother  of  La  Salle;  another  Joutel,  journalist  of  the  ex- 
pedition. At  Fort  St.  Louis,  in  the  heart  of  the  Illinois,  the  destined 
capital  of  the  empire  of  La  Salle's  vision,  his  faithful  Achates,  Tonty  of 
the  Iron  Hand,  held  sway.  From  him  the  fugitives  expected  a  royal 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  11 

welcome  and  the  means  of  prosecuting  their  journey  on  to  Canada,  but 
they  bore  a  fearful  secret  which  they  took  care  to  conceal  from  his 
knowledge.  La  Salle  had  been  assassinated  in  the  Texan  wilds  by  a 
group  of  his  treacherous  followers.  But  his  brother  bore  a  letter  of 
credit  to  Tonty  directing  the  latter  to  furnish  him  with  supplies  and  a 
valuable  store  of  beaver  skins.  With  the  knowledge  of  the  death  of  La 
Salle  and  the  vanishing  of  his  dream  of  empire  this  request  would  natur- 
ally not  be  honored.  The  fugitives  accepted  Tonty's  hospitality  there- 
fore, while  they  meanly  concealed  from  him  the  news  of  his  master's 
death. 

Joutel's  account  of  his  experiences,  a  narrative  of  over  440  pages, 
was  printed  in  the  original  French  by  Margry  a  generation  ago.  It  is 
also  available  in  English  translation  in  a  number  of  editions,  none  of 
which,  unfortunately,  is  either  accurate  or  complete.  The  original 
translation,  considerably  abridged  and  much  distorted,  was  published  in 
London  in  1714.  In  recent  years  this  translation  has  been  several  times 
reprinted,1  no  one  of  Joutel's  modern  editors  having  taken  the  pains  to 
provide  a  translation  of  the  original  journal.  We  present  here  a  fresh 
translation  made  for  the  Michigan  Historical  Commission,  to  whose 
generosity  is  due  the  privilege  of  thus  printing  in  advance  an  excerpt 
from  one  of  the  Commission's  projected  publications.  For  those  who 
care  to  read  a  secondary  description  based  upon  Joutel's  narrative  there 
is  of  course  Francis  Parkman's  fascinating  biography  of  La  Salle. 

Again  a  decade  passes.  The  torch  of  civilization  so  long  held  aloft 
by  Tonty  on  the  rock  of  St.  Louis  has  at  length  been  extinguished,  and 
the  man  of  iron  hand  and  iron  heart  is  about  to  give  his  aid  to  the 
attempted  French  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Here, 
a  few  years  later,  at  Biloxi,  yellow  fever  struck  him  down,  and  the 
valorous  career  of  the  chief  who  "Feared  not  men"  was  ended.  Mean- 
while the  Jesuits,  whom  La  Salle  had  regarded  with  jealous  eye,  had 
established  a  mission  at  Chicago.  Broken  up  for  a  time  through  the 
opposition,  as  it  was  charged,  of  Count  Frontenac,  it  was  shortly  restored, 
and  for  a  year  or  two,  just  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
cause  of  religion  flourished  at  Chicago.  The  Seminary  of  Quebec  now 
determined  to  enter  upon  the  vast  field  of  missionary  endeavor  which 
the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  had  opened,  and  to  rival  there  the  work 
of  the  Jesuits  farther  north  in  plucking  the  souls  of  the  savage  red  men 
from  impending  perdition.  The  initial  essay  of  the  Seminary  priests  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley  affords  our  third  seventeenth-century  narrative. 
Proceeding  to  the  interior  by  the  now-familiar  route,  they  desired  to 
1  Once  by  the  Caxton  Club,  under  the  editorship  of  Melville  B.  Anderson. 


12  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

traverse  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  rivers  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Mississippi,  as  Jolliet  and  La  Salle  had  done  in  their  first  momentous 
exploration.  But  the  belligerent  attitude  of  the  Fox  Indians  compelled 
them  to  take  the  more  difficult  Chicago  route.  Thus  the  same  cause 
which  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  cessation  of  visits  to  and  records  of 
Chicago  in  the  eighteenth  century,  operated  in  this  instance  to  supply 
such  a  visit  and  narrative. 

The  records  of  the  expedition  are  preserved  in  a  number  of  letters 
written  by  its  members,  that  from  which  we  quote  being  the  longest  and 
most  important.  Its  author,  Jean  Francois  Buisson  de  St.  Cosme,  was 
not  the  leader  of  the  party,  but  he  seems  to  have  been  commissioned  to 
write  the  principal  narrative — the  only  one  describing  the  experiences  of 
the  outward  journey.  St.  Cosme  signified  the  measure  of  his  missionary 
zeal  by  winning  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  being  massacred  by  the 
savages  on  the  lower  Mississippi  a  few  years  later.  The  original  manu- 
script of  his  letter  is  preserved  at  Laval  University  in  Quebec.  Francis 
Parkman  procured  a  copy  of  it,  and  loaning  it  to  John  G.  Shea,  the  latter 
translated  and  published  it  in  i86i.2  The  copy  was  defective,  however, 
and  the  translation  of  it  not  entirely  accurate.  The  translation  here 
presented  was  made  for  Dr.  Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  late  Superintendent 
of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society,  some  years  since  by  Col.  Crawford 
Lindsay  of  Quebec  from  a  transcript  of  the  original  manuscript  taken 
for  this  purpose. 

One  characteristic  common  to  all  of  the  seventeenth-century  narra- 
tives here  presented  deserves  a  word  of  comment.  These  earliest  French 
visitors  to  Illinois  gained  a  truer  insight  into  its  climatic  and  natural 
resources  than  was  possessed  by  some  of  the  best-equipped  observers  a 
century  and  a  half  later.  Judge  Storrow  (whose  narrative  we  reprint) 
gravely  concluded  in  1817  that  the  region  of  southeastern  Wisconsin 
"labors  under  the  permanent  defects  of  coldness  of  soil  and  want  of 
moisture."  He  recognized,  however,  the  "native  strength"  of  the  soil, 
and  conceded  that  "at  some  remotely  future  period"  when  a  dense 
population  should  make  possible  the  application  of  artificial  heat,  the 
husbandman  might  extract  means  of  life  from  it.  More  dolorous  still 
is  the  estimate  of  Keating,  the  historian  of  Major  Long's  expedition, 
which  visited  Chicago  in  1823.  He  found  the  climate  inhospitable,  the 
soil  sterile,  and  the  scenery  monotonous  and  uninteresting.  Nor  could 
he  perceive  any  future  for  Chicago,  such  as  Schoolcraft  had  foretold  a 
year  or  two  before.  The  only  prospect  he  could  foresee  was  that  "at 
some  distant  day,"  when  the  country  between  the  Wabash  and  the 

2  In  Early  Voyages  up  and  down  the  Mississippi  (Albany,  1861). 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  13 

t  pi  should  become  populated,  Chicago  might  become  a  point  in 
the  line  of  communication  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi; 
but  even  such  intercourse  would,  he  thought,  be  at  all  times  limited. 
Even  Schoolcraft,  whose  optimism  concerning  Chicago  and  northern 
Illinois  was  thus  so  severely  arraigned,  had  only  dubious  praise  for  the 
country  between  Lake  Peoria  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois. 

Judged  in  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge  the  first  explorers  of  the 
Illinois  country  had  a  truer  conception  of  its  worth  than  did  some  of  their 
successors  of  a  century  and  a  quarter  later.  Marquette's  account  of 
his  first  passage  through  it  is  as  brief  as  the  journey  itself  was  hurried. 
Yet  the  opening  sentence  of  the  single  paragraph  he  devotes  to  it  states 
succinctly  his  impressions:  "We  have  seen  nothing  like  this  river  that 
we  enter,  as  regards  its  fertility  of  soil,  its  prairies  and  woods,  its  cattle, 
elk,  deer,  wildcats,  bustards,  swans,  ducks,  parroquets,  and  even  beaver." 
In  view  of  the  forlornness  of  his  situation  and  the  hard  experiences  to 
which  he  was  subjected,  there  would  be  little  occasion  for  surprise  if 
Joutel  had  drawn  a  dolorous  picture  of  Illinois.  How  differently  he 
described  it,  and  how  impressed  he  was  with  its  beauty  and  natural 
resources,  need  not  be  pointed  out  to  the  reader  of  this  portion  of  his 
journal  which  we  publish.  St.  Cosme,  like  Marquette,  speaks  but 
briefly  of  the  country,  but  the  little  he  does  say  leaves  no  doubt  of  his 
satisfaction  with  it.  Even  160  years  after  Joutel's  visit,  Horace  Greeley, 
describing  the  Illinois  country  for  the  benefit  of  the  readers  of  the  New 
York  Tribune,  considered  "Deficiency  of  Water"  to  be  "the  great,  for- 
midable, permanent  drawback  on  the  eligibility  of  the  prairie  region  for 
settlement,"  and  could  not  see  how  this  deficiency  was  ever  to  be  fully 
remedied.  If  any  moral  may  be  deduced  from  this  hasty  contrast 
between  the  estimates  of  the  newer  explorers  of  Illinois  and  the  older 
ones  it  is  perhaps  that  the  real  character  of  a  country,  as  of  an  individual, 
is  not  always  apparent  upon  superficial  observation. 


FATHER  MARQUETTE'S  SOJOURN  AT 
CHICAGO,  1674-75 

(From  "The  Jesuit  Relations"  R.  G.  Thwaites,  Editor; 
copyright  /poo,  by  The  Burrows  Brothers  Company  ) 

[Dec.  4] 

E  started  with  a  favoring  wind,  and  reached  the  river  of  the 
portage,  which  was  frozen  to  the  depth  of  half  a  foot;  there 
was  more  snow  there  than  elsewhere,  as  well  as  more  tracks 
of  animals  and  Turkeys. 
Navigation  on  the  lake  is  fairly  good  from  one  portage  to  the  other, 
for  there  is  no  crossing  to  be  made,  and  one  can  land  anywhere,  unless 
one  persist  in  going  on  when  the  waves  are  high  and  the  wind  is  strong. 
The  land  bordering  it  is  of  no  value,  except  on  the  prairies.  There  are 
8  or  10  quite  fine  rivers.  Deer-hunting  is  very  good,  as  one  goes  away 
from  the  Poutewatamis.1 

[Dec.  12]  As  we  began  yesterday  to  haul  our  baggage  in  order  to 
approach  the  portage,  the  Ilinois  who  had  left  the  Poutewatamis  arrived, 
with  great  difficulty.  We  were  unable  to  celebrate  holy  mass  on  the 
day  of  the  Conception,  owing  to  the  bad  weather  and  cold.  During 
our  stay  at  the  entrance  of  the  river,  Pierre  and  Jacques  killed  3  cattle 
and  4  deer,  one  of  which  ran  some  distance  with  its  heart  split  in  2.  We 
contented  ourselves  with  killing  3  or  4  turkeys,  out  of  many  that  came 
around  our  cabin  because  they  were  almost  dying  of  hunger.  Jacques 
brought  in  a  partridge  that  he  had  killed,  exactly  like  those  of  France 
except  that  it  had  two  ruffs,  as  it  were,  of  3  or  4  feathers  as  long  as  a 
finger,  near  the  head,  covering  the  2  sides  of  the  neck  where  there  are 
no  feathers. 

[Dec.  14]  Having  encamped  near  the  portage,  2  leagues  up  the 
river,2  we  resolved  to  winter  there,  as  it  was  impossible  to  go  farther, 

1  Marquette  had  gained  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  at  Sturgeon  Bay  and  followed 
thence  down  the  lake  shore  to  Chicago.     This  paragraph  has  reference  to  this  portion  of  his 
journey.     The  Potawatomi  were  in  this  period  in  the  vicinity  of  Green  Bay;  for  a  time  their 
name  was  attached  to  modern  Washington  Island. 

2  The  site  of  Marquette's  winter  camp  is  supposed  to  have  been  at  or  near  the  junction 
of  South  Robey  Street  and  the  south  branch  of  the  river. 


16  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

since  we  were  too  much  hindered  and  my  ailment  did  not  permit  me  to 
give  myself  much  fatigue.  Several  Ilinois  passed  yesterday,  on  their 
way  to  carry  their  furs  to  nawaskingwe;  we  gave  them  one  of  the  cattle 
and  one  of  the  deer  that  Jacque  had  killed  on  the  previous  day.  I  do 
not  think  that  I  have  ever  seen  any  savages  more  eager  for  French 
tobacco  than  they.  They  came  and  threw  beaver-skins  at  our  feet,  to 
get  some  pieces  of  it;  but  we  returned  these,  giving  them  some  pipefuls 
of  the  tobacco  because  we  had  not  yet  decided  whether  we  would  go 
farther. 

[Dec.  15]  Chachagwessiou  and  the  other  Ilinois  left  us,  to  go  and 
join  their  people  and  give  them  the  goods  that  they  had  brought,  in 
order  to  obtain  their  robes.  In  this  they  act  like  the  traders,  and  give 
hardly  any  more  than  do  the  French.  I  instructed  them  before  their 
departure,  deferring  the  holding  of  a  council  until  the  spring,  when  I 
should  be  in  their  village.  They  traded  us  3  fine  robes  of  ox-skins  for 
a  cubit  of  tobacco;  these  were  very  useful  to  us  during  the  winter.  Being 
thus  rid  of  them,  we  said  The  mass  of  the  Conception.  After  the  i4th, 
my  disease  turned  into  a  bloody  flux. 

[Dec.  30]  Jacque  arrived  from  the  Ilinois  village,  which  is  only 
six  leagues  from  here;  there  they  were  suffering  from  hunger,  because 
the  cold  and  snow  prevented  them  from  hunting.  Some  of  them  notified 
la  Toupine  and  the  surgeon  that  we  were  here;  and,  as  they  could  not 
leave  their  cabin,  they  had  so  frightened  the  savages,  believing  that  we 
would  suffer  from  hunger  if  we  remained  here,  that  Jacque  had  much 
difficulty  in  preventing  15  young  men  from  coming  to  carry  away  all 
our  belongings. 

[January  16,  1675.]  As  soon  as  the  2  frenchmen*  learned  that  my 
illness  prevented  me  from  going  to  them,  the  surgeon  came  here  with  a 
savage,  to  bring  us  some  blueberries  and  corn.  They  are  only  1 8  leagues 
from  here,  in  a  fine  place  for  hunting  cattle,  deer,  and  turkeys,  which  are 
excellent  there.  They  had  also  collected  provisions  while  waiting  for 
us;  and  had  given  the  savages  to  understand  that  their  cabin  belonged 
to  the  black  gown;  and  it  may  be  said  that  they  have  done  and  said  all 
that  could  be  expected  from  them.  After  the  surgeon  had  spent  some 
time  here,  in  order  to  perform  his  devotions,  I  sent  Jacque  with  him  to 
tell  the  Ilinois  near  that  place  that  my  illness  prevented  me  from  going 

3  Concerning  these  two  Frenchmen,  who  seem  to  have  preceded  Marquette  to  the  Illi- 
nois country,  we  know  little,  aside  from  what  Marquette  himself  tells  us.  "La  Taupine" 
— the  mole —  was  Pierre  Amoreau,  a  trader  and  bushranger  of  the  period.  He  was  an  ad- 
herent of  Count  Frontenac,  and  was  accused  by  the  intendant  of  New  France  with  being  an 
agent  of  the  Governor  in  the  prosecution  of  illicit  trade  with  the  Indians.  Of  his  companion 
"the  surgeon,"  nothing  is  known  further  than  is  set  forth  by  Marquette. 


FATHER  MARO.UETTE'S  SOJOURN  At  CHICAGO  17 

to  see  them;  and  that  I  would  even  have  some  difficulty  in  going  there 
in  the  spring,  if  it  continued. 

[Jan.  24]  Jacque  returned  with  a  sack  of  corn  and  other  delicacies, 
which  the  French  had  given  him  for  me.  He  also  brought  the  tongues 
and  flesh  of  two  cattle,  which  a  savage  and  he  had  killed  near  here. 
But  all  the  animals  feel  the  bad  weather. 

[Jan.  26]  3  Ilinois  brought  us,  on  behalf  of  the  elders,  2  sacks  of 
corn,  some  dried  meat,  pumpkins,  and  12  beaver-skins:  1st,  to  make 
me  a  mat;  2nd,  to  ask  me  for  powder;  jrd,  that  we  might  not  be  hungry; 
4th,  to  obtain  a  few  goods.  I  replied:  ist,  that  I  had  come  to  instruct 
them,  by  speaking  to  them  of  prayer,  etc. ;  2nd,  that  I  would  give  them 
no  powder,  because  we  sought  to  restore  peace  everywhere,  and  I  did 
not  wish  them  to  begin  war  with  the  muiamis;  3rd,  that  we  feared  not 
hunger;  4th,  that  I  would  encourage  the  french  to  bring  them  goods, 
and  that  they  must  give  satisfaction  to  those  who  were  among  them  for 
the  beads  which  they  had  taken  as  soon  as  the  surgeon  started  to  come 
here.  As  they  had  come  a  distance  of  20  leagues,  I  gave  them,  in  order 
to  reward  them  for  their  trouble  and  for  what  they  had  brought  me,  a 
hatchet,  2  knives,  3  clasp-knives,  10  brasses  of  glass  beads,  and  2  double 
mirrors,  telling  them  that  I  would  endeavor  to  go  to  the  village,  —  for 
a  few  days  only,  if  my  illness  continued.  They  told  me  to  take  courage, 
and  to  remain  and  die  in  their  country;  and  that  they  had  been  informed 
that  I  would  remain  there  for  a  long  time, 

[Feb.  9]  Since  we  addressed  ourselves  to  the  blessed  Virgin  Im- 
maculate, and  commenced  a  novena  with  a  mass, — at  which  Pierre  and 
Jacque,  who  do  everything  they  can  to  relieve  me,  received  communion, 
—to  ask  God  to  restore  my  health,  my  bloody  flux  has  left  me,  and  all 
that  remains  is  a  weakness  of  the  stomach.  I  am  beginning  to  feel  much 
better,  and  to  regain  my  strength.  Out  of  a  cabin  of  Ilinois,  who  en- 
camped near  us  for  a  month,  a  portion  have  again  taken  the  road  to  the 
Poutewatamis,  and  some  are  still  on  the  lake-shore,  where  they  wait 
until  navigation  is  open.  They  bear  letters  for  our  Fathers  of  st. 
Francois. 

[Feb.  20]  We  have  had  opportunity  to  observe  the  tides  coming  in 
from  the  lake,  which  rise  and  fall  several  times  a  day;  and,  although  there 
seems  to  be  no  shelter  in  the  lake,  we  have  seen  the  ice  going  against  the 
wind.  These  tides  made  the  water  good  or  bad,  because  that  which 
flows  from  above  conies  from  prairies  and  small  streams.  The  deer, 
which  are  plentiful  near  the  lake-shore,  are  so  lean  that  we  had  to  abandon 
some  of  those  which  we  had  killed. 


1 8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

[March  23]  We  killed  several  partridges,  only  the  males  of  which 
had  ruffs  on  the  neck,  the  females  not  having  any.  These  partridges 
are  very  good,  but  not  like  those  of  france. 

[March  30]  The  north  wind  delayed  the  thaw  until  the  25th  of 
March,  when  it  set  in  with  a  south  wind.  On  the  very  next  day,  game 
began  to  make  its  appearance.  We  killed  30  pigeons,  which  I  found 
better  than  those  down  the  great  river;  but  they  are  smaller,  both  old 
and  young.  On  the  28th,  the  ice  broke  up,  and  stopped  above  us. 
On  the  29th,  the  waters  rose  so  high  that  we  had  barely  time  to  decamp 
as  fast  as  possible,  putting  our  goods  in  the  trees,  and  trying  to  sleep  on  a 
hillock.  The  water  gained  on  us  nearly  all  night,  but  there  was  a  slight 
freeze,  and  the  water  fell  a  little,  while  we  were  near  our  packages. 
The  barrier  has  just  broken,  the  ice  has  drifted  away;  and,  because 
the  water  is  already  rising,  we  are  about  to  embark  to  continue  our 
journey. 

The  blessed  Virgin  Immaculate  has  taken  such  care  of  us  during 
our  wintering  that  we  have  not  lacked  provisions,  and  have  still  remain- 
ing a  large  sack  of  corn,  with  some  meat  and  fat.  We  also  lived  very 
pleasantly  for  my  illness  did  not  prevent  me  from  saying  holy  mass 
every  day.  We  were  unable  to  keep  Lent,  except  on  Fridays  and 
Saturdays. 

[March  31]  We  started  yesterday  and  traveled  3  leagues  up  the 
river  without  finding  any  portage.  We  hauled  our  goods  probably  about 
half  an  arpent.  Besides  this  discharge,  the  river  has  another  one  by 
which  we  are  to  go  down.*  The  very  high  lands  alone  are  not  flooded. 
At  the  place  where  we  are,  the  water  has  risen  more  than  12  feet.  This 
is  where  we  began  our  portage  18  months  Ago.  Bustards  and  ducks  pass 
continually;  we  contented  ourselves  with  7.  The  ice,  which  is  still  drift- 
ing down,  keeps  us  here,  as  we  do  not  know  in  what  condition  the  lower 
part  of  the  river  is. 

[April  i]  As  I  do  not  yet  know  whether  I  shall  remain  next  summer 
in  the  village,  on  account  of  my  diarrhoea,  we  leave  here  part  of  our 
goods,  those  with  which  we  can  dispense,  and  especially  a  sack  of  corn. 
While  a  strong  south  wind  delays  us,  we  hope  to  go  tomorrow  to  the  place 
where  the  French  are,  at  a  distance  of  15  leagues  from  here. 

[April  6]  Strong  winds  and  the  cold  prevent  us  from  proceeding. 
The  two  lakes  over  which  we  passed  are  full  of  bustards,  geese,  ducks, 
cranes,  and  other  game  unknown  to  us.  The  rapids  are  quite  dangerous 

4  By  "  this  discharge,"  Mai-queue  means  the  south  branch  of  the  Chicago  River;  the 
other  discharge  by  which  they  are  to  go  down  is,  of  course,  the  DCS  Plaines.  In  time  of 
spring  flood  the  two  streams  were  commonly  united. 


FATHER  MARQUETTE'S  SOJOURN  AT  CHICAGO  19 

in  some  places.  We  have  just  met  the  surgeon,  with  a  savage  who  was 
going  up  with  a  canoe-load  of  furs;  but,  as  the  cold  is  too  great  for  persons 
who  are  obliged  to  drag  their  canoes  in  the  water,  he  has  made  a  cache  of 
his  beaver-skins,  and  returns  to  the  village  tomorrow  with  us.  If  the 
French  procure  robes  in  this  country,  they  do  not  disrobe  the  savages, 
so  great  are  the  hardships  that  must  be  endured  to  obtain  them.5 

'Here  the  journal  ceases  abruptly.  From  other  sources  we  know  that  Marquette 
journeyed  to  the  Illinois  town  and  there  preached  for  a  few  days,  laying  the  foundation  of 
the  Illinois  mission.  Because  of  his  illness  he  then  set  out  on  the  return  journey  to  Mackinac, 
going  by  the  southern  end  and  east  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  At  the  mouth  of  Pere  Marquette 
River,  where  the  city  of  Ludington  now  stands,  he  died  on  May  18,  1675.  His  companions 
interred  his  body  in  accordance  with  directions  Marquette  himself  had  given.  The  following 
year  his  bones  were  exhumed  by  some  of  his  faithful  converts  and  carried  to  Mackinac  where 
they  were  reinterred  in  the  mission  church  of  St.  Ignace. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL,  1687-88 

[HEN  everything  had  been  arranged,  as  I  have  said,  we  made 
preparations  for  our  departure;1  we  requested  the  Sieurs  de 
Bellefontaine  and  Boisrondet  to  send  a  party  with  the  Indians 
as  far  as  the  Great  River,  or  River  Colbert,5  whence  they 
would  be  able  to  get  through  without  much  risk,  as  they  could  travel  by 
night  as  well  as  by  day,  letting  themselves  drift  with  the  current,  hy 
which  means  they  would  make  very  good  progress. 

On  Wednesday  the  ijth  three  men  arrived,  in  great  haste,  from 
Micilimaquinac,  and  since,  as  I  have  already  noted,  there  was  not  water 
enough  in  the  river,  they  had  been  obliged  to  leave  their  boat  on  the 
shore  of  the  lake;  this  happened  very  conveniently,  for  we  gave  them  the 
one  which  had  been  prepared  for  us,  as  it  saved  carrying  ours,  and  the 
boats  were  of  about  the  same  size.*  So,  on  Thursday  the  i8th,  all  our 
small  equipment  being  ready,  we  took  leave  of  all  the  dwellers  in  the 
Fort,  and  set  out,  numbering  eight  Frenchmen,  namely  we  five  and  the 
three  who  acted  as  our  guides  or,  rather,  who  were  to  do  so,  with  about 
a  dozen  Indians  to  carry  some  provisions  for  us  and  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty  or  a  hundred  and  thirty  otter-skins  and  a  few  beaver-skin  robes, 
whiclgwe  took  to  enable  us  to  obtain  provisions  at  Michilimaquinak  or 

elsewfaere,  in  case  we  should  need  them,  and  could  find  any. 
x    • 

s.  H 

§  We  set  off  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn  ire  -ired  several 

volley*  when  we  left,  as  they  had  done  <  ng  us  a  good 

joig-n^r.     Before  leaving,  M.  Cavelier  hae:  letter  r< 

Tcjfim  which  he  handed  to  the  Sieur  de  • ;  on 

o1  THle  selection  begins  with  the  first  departure  of  C'avttier'*  party  •  >ui» 

(mwerjj  Starved  Rock)  for  Chicago. 

3?Tfte  Mississippi;  the  Indians  alluded  to  were  the  guides  who  had  conrlti  'icr's 

party  fl*m  the  Arkansas  to  Fort  St.  Louis,  and  who  were  now  to  return  to  their  native  haunts. 

•a!  Proceeding  by  canoe  from  Mackinac  to  St.  Louis  the  men  '•  ison 

of  lj&k_of  water  in  the  Des  Plaines  to  leave  their  boat  at  •  !er  of 

thejjoufctey  to  Starved  Rock  on  foot.     Since  Joutel's  party  was  about  *o  reverse  the  route  of 
therSnetf  from  Mackinac  they  now  found  it  possible,  b\  eachusfing  brut*  with  the  latter  to 
task  of  carrying  their  own  canoe  from  F< 
Delisle's  manuscript  ends,  and  Joutel's  original  text  begins  again. 


• 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL,  1687-88 

JHEN  everything  had  been  arranged,  as  I  have  said,  we  made 
preparations  for  our  departure;1  we  requested  the  Sieurs  de 
Bellefontaine  and  Boisrondet  to  send  a  party  with  the  Indians 
as  far  as  the  Great  River,  or  River  Colbert,2  whence  they 
would  be  able  to  get  through  without  much  risk,  as  they  could  travel  by 
night  as  well  as  by  day,  letting  themselves  drift  with  the  current,  by 
which  means  they  would  make  very  good  progress. 

On  Wednesday  the  iyth  three  men  arrived,  in  great  haste,  from 
Micilimaquinac,  and  since,  as  I  have  already  noted,  there  was  not  water 
enough  in  the  river,  they  had  been  obliged*  to  leave  their  boat  on  the 
shore  of  the  lake;  this  happened  very  conveniently,  for  we  gave  them  the 
one  which  had  been  prepared  for  us,  as  it  saved  carrying  ours,  and  the 
boats  were  of  about  the  same  size.*  So,  on  Thursday  the  i8th,  all  our 
small  equipment  being  ready,  we  took  leave  of  all  the  dwellers  in  the 
Fort,  and  set  out,  numbering  eight  Frenchmen,  namely  we  five  and  the 
three  who  acted  as  our  guides  or,  rather,  who  were  to  do  so,  with  about 
a  dozen  Indians  to  carry  some  provisions  for  us  and  about  a  hundred  and 
twenty  or  a  hundred  and  thirty  otter-skins  and  a  few  beaver-skin  robes, 
which  we  took  to  enable  us  to  obtain  provisions  at  Michilimaquinak  or 
elsewhere,  in  case  we  should  need  them,  and  could  find  any. 

We  set  off  at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  They  fired  several 
volleys  when  we  left,  as  they  had  done  on  our  arrival,  wishing  us  a  good 
journey.  Before  leaving,  M.  Cavelier  had  written  a  letter  to  M.  de 
Tonty,  which  he  handed  to  the  Sieur  de  Bellefontaine  to  give  to  him  on 

1  The  selection  begins  with  the  first  departure  of  Cavelier's  party  from  Fort  St.  Louis 
(modern  Starved  Rock)  for  Chicago. 

*The  Mississippi;  the  Indians  alluded  to  were  the  guides  who  had  conducted  Cavelier's 
party  from  the  Arkansas  to  Fort  St.  Louis,  and  who  were  now  to  return  to  their  native  haunts. 

*  Proceeding  by  canoe  from  Mackinac  to  St.  Louis  the  men  had  been  forced  by  reason 
of  lack  of  water  in  the  Des  Plaines  to  leave  their  boat  at  Chicago  and  make  the  remainder  of 
the  journey  to  Starved  Rock  on  foot.     Since  Joutel's  party  was  about  to  reverse  the  route  of 
the  men  from  Mackinac  they  now  found  it  possible,  by  exchanging  boats  with  the  latter  to 
forego  the  task  of  carrying  their  own  canoe  from  Fort  St.  Louis  to  Chicago. 

*  Here  Delisle's  manuscript  ends,  and  Joutel's  original  text  begins  again. 


22  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

his  return.4  So  we  went  our  way,  passing  by  the  village  of  the  Miamis,  a 
distance  of  about  a  league  from  Fort  Saint  Louis;  it  is  situated  on  a 
hill,  in  a  very  good  position,  where  a  fine  town  could  be  made,  of  great 
strength,  for  the  place  is  steep  all  round,  or  could  be  made  so,  and  the 
river  flows  at  its  foot.  We  went  on  until  Thursday  the  25th,  when  we 
arrived  at  a  place  called  Chicagou,  which,  according  to  what  we  were 
told,  has  been  so  called  on  account  of  the  quantity  of  garlic  growing  in 
this  district,  in  the  woods.6  There  is  a  small  river  there,  formed  by  the 
drainage  from  a  great  plain  or  prairie  at  that  place,  which  flows  straight 
into  the  lake  called,  as  I  have  said  elsewhere,  the  Lake  of  the  Illinois  or 
Michigan.  At  about  three  or  four  leagues'  distance,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  great  plain,  the  waters  run  into  the  River  of  the  Illinois,  which  is 
formed  by  them;  and  the  higher  the  waters,  the  less  is  the  distance 
things  have  to  be  carried.  It  would  appear  that  this  place  is  the  highest 
ground  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  River  St.  Laurence,  for  all 
the  streams  from  this  district  run  towards  the  coast  at  one  or  other  of 
those  places.  The  more  water  there  is  in  the  streams,  the  less  carrying 
there  is  to  do;  for,  in  navigating  rivers  of  this  sort,  it  is  (sometimes) 
necessary  to  carry  the  canoe  or  boat  and  the  baggage,  and  it  cannot  be 
avoided.  On  our  arrival,  we  sent  back  the  Indians  the  next  day,  other- 
wise they  would  have  eaten  up  all  our  provisions,  of  which  we  had  no 
great  quantity;  for  they  had  consumed  a  great  part  of  them,  the  rains 
having  prevented  us  from  getting  on  as  fast  as  we  could  have  wished. 
Some  Frenchmen  from  the  Fort,  who  had  come  to  carry  some  of  the 
things,  went  back  with  the  Indians. 

4Tonty  was  absent  on  Governor  Denonville's  campaign  against  the  Iroquois.  To 
share  in  this  distant  enterprise  he  led  from  Illinois  a  small  band  of  French  followers  and 
some  200  Indians. 

5  Much  discussion  has  been  waged,  and  so-called  wit  Indulged,  over  the  question  of 
the  significance  of  the  name  of  Chicago.  Most  commonly  it  is  thought  to  signify  skunk,  or, 
as  here,  wild  onion.  With  no  pretension  to  speak  as  an  authority  in  the  field  of  Indian  philology 
I  venture  to  hazard  the  opinion  that  the  true  significance  of  the  word  is  simply  great  or  strong. 
If  so  it  might  readily  have  become  associated  with  the  name  either  of  the  plant  or  the  animal 
just  mentioned,  or  with  both.  There  is  a  river  in  Iowa  known  today  as  the  Skunk.  On 
Prince  Maximilian's  map  of  1832-34  this  stream  is  denominated  the  "Checaguar."  On 
Joseph  Nicollet's  map  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  published  by  the  War  Department  in  1843, 
it  is  laid  down  as  the  "Shikugu  or  Skunk"  River.  On  the  other  hand,  La  Salle's  Fort  Crevecoeur 
on  Lake  Peoria,  doubtless  the  only  structure  more  imposing  than  a  wigwam  they  had  ever 
seen,  was  dubbed  by  the  Indians  "Checagou."  It  seems  obvious  that  this  did  not  mean 
skunk  to  them  and  probable  that  it  did  mean  great  or  large.  On  an  old  Spanish  map  which 
I  have  seen  (but  to  which,  unfortunately,  I  am  now  unable  to  refer),  dating  from  the  explora- 
tions of  De  Soto,  the  Mississippi  bears  a  name  which  is  obviously  the  same  from  which  the 
cognomen  of  the  second  city  of  America  is  derived.  Other  similar  illustrations  might  easily 
be  supplied  but  I  forbear,  since  this  note  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  only,  rather  than  ex- 
haustive. That  variations  occur  in  the  spelling  of  the  name  signifies  nothing.  The  Indian 
languages  were  developed  entirely  independently  of  any  thought  of  accommodating  them  to 
English  orthography.  Upwards  of  forty  different  ways  of  spelling  Chicago  have  been  noted; 
half  as  many,  probably,  might  easily  be  supplied  for  Milwaukee. 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL  23 

We  found  the  boat  on  the  bank  of  the  river'  and  took  it  and  went 
to  the  shore  of  the  lake  where  we  remained  a  week,  in  consequence  of 
the  contrary  winds  and  bad  weather.  Moreover  we  had  no  men  who 
had  much  skill  in  navigation,  which  was  very  much  against  us,  as  our 
provisions  were  rapidly  diminishing  and  we  were  making  no  progress. 
As  I  have  said  before,  some  part  of  the  provisions  had  been  expended 
to  no  purpose,  in  keeping  the  Indians  during  the  delay  caused  by  the 
rains.  To  add  to  our  misfortunes,  one  of  our  men,  in  firing  at  some 
turkeys,  burst  his  gun,  either  by  overcharging  it,  or  by  ramming  the 
charge  badly,  or  by  some  other  accident;  and  he  grieved  so  much  over 
it  that  he  fell  ill  with  a  fever.  Thus  it  seemed  as  if  everything  was 
against  our  journey,  which  disappointed  us  very  much,  and  me  especially, 
for  I  was  always  very  anxious  to  send  news  of  this  country  to  France; 
we  were  therefore  greatly  troubled.  M.  Cavelier  told  the  man  that  he 
had  no  need  to  worry  about  the  loss  of  his  gun,  and  that  he  would  give 
him  another  when  we  reached  Montreal,  if  indeed  we  got  there;  as  for 
me,  I  told  him  that  he  ought  to  be  thankful  that  he  had  not  been  maimed 
by  the  accident.  We  got  weary  of  staying  at  this  place;  and,  as  we  did 
not  see  the  waves  on  the  lake  from  the  spot  where  we  were,  which  was 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  we  decided  to  take  our  boat  down  to  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  embark  if  we  should  find  it  possible; 
but,  having  no  experience  of  navigation  of  this  kind,  we  would  not  force 
the  voyageurs  to  start,  against  their  will. 

However,  when  the  wind  went  down  a  little,  we  embarked,  and  went 
about  eight  or  ten  leagues  on  the  lake,  always  keeping  along  by  the  land 
towards  the  north  with  the  intention  of  going  to  a  tribe  called  the 
Poutoutam/  iPotawatomi],  where  we  hoped  to  get  some  Indian  corn; 
but  the  wind  got  round  to  the  offing,  and  made  the  water  rough,  com- 
pelling us  to  put  in  to  the  shore.  The  water  of  the  lake  is  like  the  sea, 
except  that  it  is  fresh  water;  the  waves  run  as  high  as  at  sea,  and  the 
land  at  the  other  side  is  out  of  sight.  According  to  what  I  was  told, 
some  of  the  lakes  are  as  much  as  four  or  five  hundred  leagues  round. 
Having  landed,  we  encamped  there  the  next  day;  and,  as  the  wind  still 
blew  from  the  same  quarter,  I  took  my  gun  and  went  to  see  whether  I 
could  find  any  game.  While  I  was  away,  M.  Cavelier  and  the  others 
decided  to  put  back,  as  we  had  only  a  very  small  stock  of  provisions, 
and  they  were  afraid  of  dying  of  starvation;  moreover,  one  of  them  was 
suffering  from  ague;  so,  when  I  got  back,  I  found  everyone  was  inclined 
to  put  back,  that  is,  to  return  to  Illinois.  I  stood  out,  however,  as  long 

'The  Chicago  River,  probably  in  the  near  vicinity  of  Robey  Street  and  the  South 
Branch. 


24  THE  DEVELOPMENT  oi1  CHICAGO 

as  I  could,  for  pushing  forward,  as  I  had  always  done  since  we  came  to 
the  Seny  [Cenis]  tribe,  where  M.  Cavelier  thought  we  ought  to  return 
to  the  Settlement.'  I  pointed  out  that,  the  sooner  we  could  get  the  news 
to  France  of  what  had  happened,  the  better  it  would  be;  because,  if  it 
should  be  thought  advisable  to  send  reinforcements,  the  sooner  it  was 
done,  the  better.  I  pointed  out  that,  to  return,  would  be  to  lose  a  year; 
for,  even  when  we  reached  Canada,  we  should  have  to  wait  until  the 
ships  left,  at  their  usual  time.  I  also  said  that,  while  we  had,  for  certain 
reasons,  concealed  the  fact  that  M.  de  la  Salle  was  dead,  there  was  the 
danger  that  some  of  the  men  whom  we  had  left  with  the  Acancea  might 
come  and  make  it  known.  But,  notwithstanding  all  the  arguments  I 
put  before  them,  they  were  determined  to  go  back,  fearing  starvation; 
and  they  quoted  the  case  of  some  men  who  had  suffered  in  that  way, 
and  for  some  days  had  had  to  eat  wild  garlic,  or  something  of  the  kind, 
which  grows  in  the  woods  in  these  parts.  Yet  there  was  a  tribe  fifty 
or  sixty  leagues  away  who  sow  Indian  corn,  from  whom  we  had  counted 
on  obtaining  some,  and  we  needed  no  more  than  three  days'  fine  weather 
to  go  there;  and  we  could  get  provisions  from  them,  as  we  had  furs  and 
other  things  to  buy  them  with.  I  was  unable,  however,  to  gain  them 
over,  for  they  were  all  afraid  of  starving.  They  brought  to  my  notice 
what  had  happened  to  the  Sieurs  de  Tonty  and  Boisrondet,  who  had 
had  nothing  but  garlic  to  eat  for  nearly  a  fortnight;  their  boat  having 
broken  up,  they  had  been  obliged  to  go  on  foot,  which  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult, as  there  are  some  places  which  are  almost  impassable.  There  was 
yet  another  difficulty,  in  the  fear  of  meeting  some  Iroquois,  which  would 
not  have  been  very  pleasant,  as  there  is  little  hope  of  quarter  from  them 
at  such  a  time,  when  we  were  at  war  with  them;  and,  beyond  the  fear 
of  death,  the  dread  of  the  tortures  which  they  inflict  was  still  more 
terrible. 

Thus  all  my  arguments  were  useless,  as  they  were  determined  to 
go  back,  to  my  great  regret,  for  I  was  extremely  anxious  to  go  on;  but, 
as  I  could  not  undertake  the  journey  alone,  I  had  to  submit.  We  re- 
turned, therefore  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Chicagou,  where  we  had 
to  set  about  making  a  hiding  place  for  the  things  we  had  with  us,  so  that 
the  Indians  who  often  come  to  this  district,  might  not  find  them,  and 
the  rains  might  not  be  able  to  spoil  them  all.  For  this  purpose  we  made 
a  hole  in  the  ground,  at  a  spot  which  was  raised  a  little,  so  that  the  water 
should  not  get  to  it;  we  lined  the  bottom  with  stakes  and  dry  grass, 
and  the  sides  as  well,  and  then  we  put  in  our  bundles,  and  the  furs  and 
other  things,  such  as  powder  and  bullets.  After  that,  we  made  a  sort 

'That  is,  to  La  Salle's  expiring  colony  on  Matagorda  Bay,  Texas. 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL  25 

of  ceiling  on  top,  with  stakes  and  dry  grass,  and  then  put  back  the  earth 
and  trod  it  well  down,  for  fear  the  water  should  penetrate;  and  as  the 
ground  cannot  be  turned  over  without  it  showing,  we  felled  an  oak, 
which  was  near  by,  and  brought  it  down  on  top  of  the  hiding  place,  and 
dug  a  hole  in  the  thick  part  of  the  oak,  as  if  for  pounding  Indian  corn, 
a  thing  which  is  sometimes  done, — doing  all  this  to  prevent  any  Indians 
who  might  come  to  the  place,  from  thinking  there  was  a  hiding  place 
there.  The  fact  that  the  leaves  were  falling  was  also  of  great  service, 
as  it  helped  considerably  in  concealing  that  the  ground  had  been  turned 
over.  After  we  had  finished  our  hiding  place,  we  put  the  boat  on  a 
platform  which  we  had  set  up;  and  we  went  back  to  Fort  Saint  Louis, 
where  we  arrived  on  the  7th  of  October.  We  passed  the  winter  there, 
much  to  my  regret;  for,  if  we  had  gone  to  France,  reinforcements  could 
have  been  sent  to  those  who  remained  at  the  Settlement,  and  the  settle- 
ment itself  could  have  been  maintained  which  would  have  been  of  advan- 
tage to  the  nation.  When  we  reached  the  Fort  they  were  greatly  sur- 
prised at  our  return-,  for  they  thought  we  were  far  away;  however,  we 
had  to  think  of  our  winter  quarters,  and  to  put  our  journey  out  of  our 
minds  and  leave  it  until  the  spring. 

A  private  apartment  was  given  to  M.  Cavelier,  but  Father  Anastase 
and  the  rest  of  us  were  quartered  in  the  warehouse;  we  all  took  our  food 
together.  These  gentlemen  secured  two  Indians  to  go  hunting  during 
the  autumn  and  winter;  and  they  fed  us  on  roebuck  meat,  of  which  we 
never  ran  short  all  the  autumn  and  a  great  part  of  the  winter;  and  that 
is  the  time  when  these  animals,  and  also  game  of  other  kinds,  are  fat  and 
in  good  condition,  for  they  feed  on  acorns  and  nuts,  of  which  there  are 
great  quantities,  as  well  as  other  fruits. 

We  found  also,  on  our  way  back,  a  number  of  apple  trees  in  the 
woods  loaded  with  fruit;  but  they  were  crabapples,  that  is,  very  sour 
ones,  which  in  Normandy  they  call  'Boquet';  we  ate  some  of  them  after 
cooking  them  in  our  pot.  There  are  also  vines,  hops,  hazelnuts  and 
fruits  of  other  kinds,  of  which  I  cannot  give  a  full  account,  because  I 
was  not  there  long  enough  to  see  them;  but  the  French  people  at  the 
Fort  told  me  that  they  had  seen  vines  along  a  stream,  which  they  called 
the  River  of  the  Miamis  [the  Wabash],  on  which  there  were  very  fine 
and  sweet  grapes,  besides  a  number  of  fruits  of  other  kinds.  A  sort  of 
hemp  grows  on  the  banks  of  the  River  of  the  Illinois,  which  attains  a 
great  height,  and  is  said  to  be  better  than  French  hemp;  at  least  it  resists 
the  water  better,  when  it  is  made  into  nets. 

As  to  the  aspect  of  the  country,  it  could  not  be  more  beautiful,  and 


26  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

I  may  say  that  the  land  of  the  Illinois  is  perfect;  everything  necessary 
to  life  and  subsistence  can  be  obtained,  for,  in  addition  to  the  beauty 
with  which  it  is  adorned,  it  possesses  fertility.  As  to  its  position,  I 
had  no  astrolabe,  compass,  or  any  other  instrument  for  taking  the  alti- 
tude, and  I  can  say  nothing  as  to  its  latitude  or  longitude;  I  shall  only 
speak  of  the  formation  of  the  country.  There  is  a  prairie  about  half  a 
league  in  breadth,  through  which  the  river  runs,which  ends  in  hills  of 
medium  height;  in  the  prairie,  very  tall  and  coarse  grass  grows  in  abun- 
dance. In  the  river  there  are  a  number  of  islands,  of  various  sizes, 
on  which  trees  of  various  kinds  grow;  the  Indians  cultivate  some  of 
these  islands,  in  which  they  sow  Indian  corn  and  other  vegetables,  which 
grow  very  well  there,  and  crop  well.  On  the  hills  the  grass  is  finer; 
the  stones  or  rocks  are  like  a  sort  of  sandstone  or  limestone,  at  least 
they  are  shining.  On  these  hills  there  is  quite  six  feet  or  more  of  soil, 
black,  and  apparently  very  good;  the  trees  on  them  are  mostly  oaks  and 
walnut  trees.  Behind  these  woods  are  great  plains  and  stretches  of 
flat  country,  full  of  fine  grass,  extending  further  than  the  eye  can  reach. 
There  are  however  places,  on  some  of  the  hills,  where  there  are  pines  and 
other  kinds  of  trees,  and  the  land  does  not  seem  to  be  so  good,  besides 
the  rocks  and  the  stone  like  sandstone  or  limestone  which  would  be  very 
suitable  for  building.  There  are  coal  mines  in  several  places,  which  are 
on  the  banks  of  this  river  or  others  which  flow  into  it;  the  coal  is  very 
good,  and  the  blacksmith  at  the  Fort  was  using  some  when  we  were 
there.  At  other  places  there  are  slate  mines  or  quarries,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  there  are  other  metals  of  greater  value  than  those  I  have 
mentioned,  though  these  are  very  good  and  greatly  to  the  advantage  of 
any  settlers  in  the  country.  Some  French  voyageurs  told  me  that  they 
had  seen  mines  of  very  fine  lead;  and,  according  to  their  report,  the  supply 
from  them  could  not  have  diminished  to  more  than  a  very  slight  extent. 
They  said  that  the  mines  cover  a  considerable  area,  and  are  on  the  banks 
of  a  river,  which  would  make  it  easy  to  work  them  and  to  convey  the 
lead.  Moreover  the  value  of  the  woods  and  the  coal  is  of  no  small 
importance;  and,  in  addition,  the  other  trees,  which  are  good  for  building 
boats,  to  convey  everything  one  may  wish  to  take  up  or  down  all  these 
streams,  would  assist  in  conducting  a  very  extensive  trade  in  furs  and 
hides,  of  which  there  is  a  large  quantity.  So  that  men  alone  are  needed 
for  obtaining  great  riches  from  this  country,  and  they  could  maintain 
themselves  far  more  easily  there  than  in  many  other  parts,  where  heavy 
expenses  have  been  incurred  for  settlements  which  yield  small  returns 
and  are  of  little  importance. 

As  to  what  has  been  done  at  this  place,  the  Sieur  de  Boisrondet, 


THE  NARRATIVE  or  JOUTEL  27 

the  agent  at  the  Fort,  had  sown,  or  caused  to  be  sown,  a  little  wheat 
which  had  been  brought  from  Canada.  He  got  fully  seven  or  eight 
minots8  from  the  very  small  quantity  he  had  sown,  which  indeed  he  had 
scattered  broadcast,  for  the  land  is  so  heavy  and  so  fertile  that  it  would 
almost  be  advisable  to  sow  corn  [au  piquet].*  Although  this  wheat  was 
not  well  cultivated  it  made  good  bread,  nevertheless,  which  we  ate  from 
time  to  time  while  we  stayed  at  that  place,  as  there  was  not  enough  for 
us  to  have  it  always;  we  had,  however,  bread  made  from  Indian  corn, 
which  seemed  to  us  good  enough,  as  in  fact  it  is.  There  was  a  steel 
mill  at  the  Fort,  for  grinding  corn,  which  is  much  more  convenient  than 
pounding  it,  as  the  Indians  do.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  everything 
grows  well  in  that  country,  seeing  that  the  climate  is  temperate,  and 
there  are  hot  and  cold  seasons;  for,  although  the  current  of  the  river  is 
rather  strong  above  the  Fort,  it  gets  frozen  over,  notwithstanding,  and 
is  covered  with  ice  for  five  or  six  weeks,  and  they  went  on  it  to  their 
hunting.  This  was  a  great  convenience  to  the  hunters,  who  made  sleighs 
on  which  they  placed  two  or  three  roebucks,  which  they  dragged  behind 
them  far  more  easily  than  they  could  have  carried  half  a  one;  also,  when 
goods  arrive  from  Canada,  and  there  is  no  water  in  the  river,  or  it  is 
frozen  over,  they  go  with  sleighs  to  fetch  the  goods.  They  make  [?] 
spiked  sticksf  to  enable  them  to  walk  more  steadily  over  the  ice.  Al- 
though the  river  was  frozen,  we  had  some  very  fine  days  nevertheless. 
As  there  was  some  corn,  we  went  and  sowed  some  of  it  before  the  frost 
came,  in  order  to  see  whether  it  was  desirable  to  do  the  same  with  it  as 
in  France;  but  I  have  had  no  news  since  we  left,  and  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  came  up  well. 

Having  spoken  of  the  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Fort,  it 
may  be  as  well  to  describe  the  position  of  the  Fort  itself. 

It  is  a  naturally  strong  place,  as  it  is  steep  all  round,  except  on  one 
side,  where  you  can  get  up  with  some  difficulty.  The  river  flows  at 
its  foot,  and  M.  de  Tonty  had  had  four  great  pieces  of  timber  placed 
so  that  the  water  could  be  drawn  from  the  top,  in  case  anyone  came  to 
attack  the  Fort.  The  fortifications  consist  only  of  palisades  and  some 
houses,  placed  around  it  and  inclosing  it;  the  top  is  not  much  more  than 
an  arpent'  and  a  half  in  extent.  There  are  several  houses  built  of  timber, 
and  other  slighter  ones  of  stakes  only;  one  was  built  for  M.  de  Tonty, 

8  A  measure  equivalent  to  three  bushels. 
*  The  arpent  is  roughly  equivalent  to  an  acre. 

•Literally,  'with  a  peg'  or  'stake.'   It  may  perhaps  mean — to  dibble  the  seeds  in.   (Trans- 
lator's note.] 

f  The  word  is  'grappins' — which  means  'grapnels.'    This  can  hardly  be  the  meaning  and 
the  content  is  insufficient  to  show  what  he  does  mean.    [Translator's  note.] 


28  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

after  he  came  back,  which  he  kept  for  M.  de  La  Salle  on  his  arrival,  not 
knowing  of  his  disaster  and  death.  Besides  these  houses  for  the  French 
people  at  the  place,  there  were  also  a  number  of  huts  belonging  to  Indians 
who  had  taken  refuge  there  when  the  Iroquois  approached  the  Fort, — 
it  may  be,  because  they  had  had  information  that  there  were  not  many 
men  in  it,  and  through  certain  intrigues  of  the  enemies  of  the  late  M.  de 
La  Salle;  at  least,  several  people  at  this  post  convinced  me  that  it  was  so. 
On  that  point  I  am  only  stating  what  I  was  told.  It  was  certainly 
difficult  to  believe  that  the  Iroquois  would  have  attempted  to  seize  upon 
such  a  post  as  that,  and  with  so  small  a  force,  without  some  information 
that  it  would  not  be  defended,  for  everyone  knows  that  Indians  are 
incapable  of  undertaking  such  a  task;  however,  as  the  matter  is  not  within 
my  knowledge,  I  leave  it  to  be  decided  by  those  who  know  the  whole  of 
the  circumstances.  I  do  know,  however,  that  at  that  time  there  were 
several  families  of  Indians  living  in  the  Fort,  besides  a  number  who  had 
gone  hunting,  and  had  packed  away  their  Indian  corn  into  holes  which 
they  make  in  the  ground,  where  they  keep  it,  unless  water  penetrates 
to  it.  Those  were  the  only  fortifications;  the  houses  extended  to  the 
edge  of  the  rock  and,  where  there  were  no  houses,  there  were  palisades. 

We  were  some  time  without  any  news,  but  we  had  the  advantage 
of  hearing  mass  daily.  The  Jesuit  Father  Daloues10  had  the  church 
plate,  and  M.  Cavelier  and  Father  Anastase  said  mass  in  turn  on  feast 
days,  one  after  the  other,  as  Father  Daloues  had  no  wine  to  spare;  so  we 
passed  the  time  as  well  as  we  could.  The  wives  of  the  Indians  brought 
something  for  us  to  the  Fort  every  day,  sometimes  watermelons  or 
pumpkins,  sometimes  bread  which  they  bake  under  the  ashes,  or  nuts 
and  things  of  that  sort,  and  we  gave  them  goods  in  exchange.  They 
also  brought  wood,  to  warm  us;  for  it  is  the  women  who  have  the  burden 
of  all  the  work,  and  they  are,  so  to  speak,  the  slaves  of  the  men. 

On  the  27th  of  the  same  month  M.  de  Tonty  arrived,  coming  back 
from  the  war  with  a  cousin  of  his  and  his  French  followers  and  he  gave 
us  an  account  of  what  had  taken  place  in  the  campaign,  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  against  the  Iroquois.  He  also  told  us  of  the  capture  of  several 
Englishmen  with  their  boats.  They  had  come  on  some  enterprise,  or 
to  form  some  settlement,  in  the  direction  of  the  Illinois,  acting  on  the 
report  made  to  them  by  certain  deserters  who  had  taken  refuge  in  their 
settlements.  Their  boats  were  laden  with  goods  of  various  kinds, 

10  Father  Allouez  was  the  successor  of  Marquette  in  the  Illinois  mission,  coming  to 
renew  it  in  the  spring  of  1677.  His  hostility  to  La  Salle  is  sufficiently  indicated  in  Joutel's 
narrative.  He  died  among  the  Miami,  near  Niles,  Mich.,  in  August,  1689,  having  labored 
twenty-five  years  among  the  savages  of  the  Northwest. 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL  29 

especially  brandy,  for  they  knew  that  the  Indians  are  very  fond  of  that 
liquor,  which  makes  them  mad  when  they  are  drunk,  as  it  does  elsewhere. 
But  the  worst  thing  is  that  they  commit  barbarous  acts  of  cruelty,  even 
to  throwing  their  children  into  the  fire;  and  to  clear  themselves,  or  excuse 
themselves,  when  the  intoxication  is  over,  they  say  that  they  were  mad 
and  had  no  understanding  when  they  did  the  deed.  Hence  the  French 
voyageurs,  who  go  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  have  been  prohibited  from 
giving  them  any  brandy,  on  pain  of  excommunication,  because  of  the 
misconduct  it  might  lead  to.  The  Sieur  de  Tontis  told  us  that  the 
Englishmen  had  been  pillaged,  and  had  been  made  prisoners  and  taken 
to  Montreal;  and,  as  to  the  Iroquois,  we  had  contented  ourselves  with 
burning  and  destroying  the  crops  of  a  village  called  Tsonontouan,  and 
had  not  thought  it  advisable  to  attack  the  others,  and  so,  after  doing  this 
damage,  the  army  had  retired.  Some  of  the  Frenchmen  who  had  accom- 
panied M.  de  Tontis,  had  gone  to  Montreal  for  goods,  and  were  then  to 
come  up  here  unless  they  were  prevented  by  fresh  orders,  or  by  the 
Iroquois,  who  might  station  themselves  in  some  pass  and  prepare  an 
ambush  for  them,  to  avenge  what  had  just  been  done  to  them;  for  there 
are  some  very  dangerous  places  to  pass,  in  returning  by  the  river,  on 
account  of  the  number  of  portages,  which  cannot  be  avoided.  M.  de 
Tonty  told  us  that,  when  they  pillaged  the  Englishmen,  he  had  had 
several  casks  of  brandy  broken  up,  for  fear  the  men  might  make  a  bad 
use  of  it. 

For  some  time  we  heard  no  news  of  any  sort.  We  related  to  M.  de 
Tonty  the  adventures  which  had  befallen  us  on  our  journey,  and  how  the 
country  lay,  through  which  we  had  passed;  also  the  district  where  the 
Settlement  was,  and  the  advantages  that  might  be  derived  from  it;  but 
we  did  not  speak  of  M.  de  La  Salle's  death,  because  we  had  resolved  to 
say  nothing  about  it  until  we  got  to  France.  The  Sieur  de  Tonty  seemed 
satisfied  but  it  was  a  great  grief  to  us,  to  see  the  advantages  which  might 
have  been  gained  if  M.  de  La  Salle  had  not  been  dead;  all  other  losses 
were  of  no  account,  as  they  could  easily  have  been  made  good;  however, 
as  there  was  no  remedy,  we  had  to  console  ourselves. 

We  should  have  been  very  glad  to  see  the  arrival  of  some  boat,  to 
bring  us  news;  but  it  was  not  until  the  loth  of  December  that  some  men 
arrived  from  Montreal,  who  came  to  tell  us  that  three  boats  had  reached 
Chicagou — the  place  where  we  had  buried  our  stores.  The  boats  were 
laden  with  goodsj  powder,  bullets  and  other  stores  suitable  for  the  trade 
done  at  that  place;  but  they  could  not  come  down  as  there  was  no  water 
in  the  river  at  the  time  or,  rather,  it  was  frozen.  M.  de  Tonty  therefore 


30  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

sent  word  to  the  chief  of  the  Chachouannons  [Shawnee]  to  let  us  have 
some  men  to  go  for  these  goods.  This  tribe  was  employed  on  account  of 
their  trustworthiness;  and  I  noticed  that  they  were  often  among  us,  and 
in  the  warehouse,  but  nothing  was  ever  observed  to  be  missing.  The 
Illinois,  on  the  contrary,  are  born  thieves,  and  it  is  as  necessary  to  beware 
of  their  feet  as  of  their  hands.  The  former  even  took  the  trouble  to 
warn  us,  when  they  saw  the  Illinois  stealing  anything,  which  caused  a  sort 
of  unfriendly  feeling  between  them,  for  these  Chahouannons  were  very 
familiar  with  the  French.  The  chief  therefore  granted  us  thirty  men,  to 
go  for  the  goods;  there  were  always  enough  men,  as  they  were  well  paid. 
So  they  went  and  fetched  all  the  things,  and  they  were  greatly  needed, 
for  they  had  hardly  any  powder  or  bullets  at  the  Fort,  either  for  its 
defence  or  for  obtaining  food. 

One  of  the  two  Frenchmen  who  came  and  gave  us  information  of 
the  arrival  of  these  boats  was  the  Sieur  Juchereau,  who  held  the  command 
of  a  post  called  Micilimaquinaq  in  the  absence  of  the  Sieur  de  La 
Durentez.  This  post  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Lake  of  the 
Illinois  with  the  Lake  of  the  Hurons;  and,  as  it  is  a  very  barren  and  cold 
district,  where  there  is  scarcely  any  game,  M.  de  Tonty,  when  he  passed 
the  place  on  his  way  back,  had  persuaded  the  Sieur  Juchereau  to  come 
and  pass  the  winter  with  him  in  the  Illinois  country,  on  account  of  the 
abundance  of  game  there,  the  hunting  being  far  better  than  at  Micili- 
makinak.  The  Sieur  Juchereau  told  us  that  certain  preparations  were 
being  made  for  returning  to  the  Iroquois  country  in  the  winter,  and  that 
snowshoes  were  being  made,  for  traveling  over  the  snow,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  country;  also  that  ten  or  twelve  Frenchmen  had  been 
killed  or  captured  by  the  Iroquois,  when  the  men  who  were  in  charge  of 
the  boats  which  had  just  arrived,  left  Montreal — as  they  had  heard. 
These  Frenchmen  had  been  attacked  unexpectedly  while  coming  down 
the  River  St.  Lawrence  from  Fort  Quataraquouy  or  Frontenac,  and  all 
for  want  of  caution,  because  they  did  not  keep  a  proper  lookout,  which 
often  happens  to  Frenchmen.  Such  was  the  news  he  told  us.  So  they 
went  for  these  goods,  which  came  very  opportunely,  as  I  said  before. 
We  passed  the  winter  without  hearing  any  more  news,  which  caused  us 
great  uneasiness;  for  we  were  expecting  a  number  of  boats,  which  were  to 
have  come  up,  and  we  feared  that  they  had  been  taken  unawares  by  the 
Iroquois,  because  of  the  danger,  on  the  way,  at  some  bad  places  where 
they  would  have  to  land;  and,  as  we  had  to  go  down  in  the  spring,  it 
made  us  uneasy.  However,  we  passed  the  time  well  enough  as  far  as  our 
subsistence  was  concerned,  except  that  we  drank  nothing  but  water;  for 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL  31 

we  had  abundance  of  meat,  roebucks,  turkeys,  bustards,  geese  and  other 
meats,  and  bread  made  from  Indian  corn,  which  the  wives  of  the  Indians 
brought  us,  and  sometimes  bread  made  from  the  wheat  which  had  been 
grown.  So  we  did  very  well  for  food;  but,  as  we  had  to  think  of  con- 
tinuing our  journey,  we  were  troubled  at  not  getting  any  news.  There 
were  various  people  who  wished  to  go  down,  and  it  was  decided  that  we 
should  all  leave  together,  so  as  to  serve  as  an  escort  for  one  another; 
and  for  this  purpose  we  decided  to  start  when  the  ice  and  snow  melted, 
that  we  might  make  use  of  the  river,  hoping  that  we  might  hear  some 
news  when  we  reached  Micilimaquinak.  M.  Cavelier  had  a  note  of  hand 
which  his  late  brother  M.  de  La  Salle,  had  given  him,  I  do  not  know  when, 
to  receive  furs  to  a  certain  value  at  this  Illinois  Fort,  to  be  used  for  things 
that  might  be  needed;  and,  as  we  had  always  concealed  M.  de  La  Salle's 
death,  M.  de  Tonty,  on  seeing  his  bill,  made  no  objection  to  giving  us 
some  furs.  M.  Cavelier  therefore  took  beaver  skins  to  the  value  of 
about  four  thousand  livres,  and  a  boat;  and  the  otter-skins  and  beaver- 
skin  robes  which  we  had  left  in  the  hiding-place  were  worth  about  loob 
or  1 200  livres.  We  then  made  our  preparations  for  leaving. 

As  I  have  said  before,  the  Jesuit  Father  had  been  alarmed  when  we 
told  him  that,  according  to  what  M.  de  La  Salle  had  said  before  he  left  us, 
he  would  very  likely  be  coming  to  the  Fort  in  a  short  time,  and  the  Father 
was  afraid  of  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle  meeting  him  there,  perhaps  because 
something  had  occurred  between  the  gentlemen,  as  I  think  I  have  stated, 
which  was  injurious  to  the  Sieur  de  La  Salle.  According  to  all  I  could 
hear  of  the  matter,  these  Fathers  had  put  forward  many  things  in  order 
to  thwart  the  enterprise,  and  had  tried  to  alienate  several  tribes  of 
Indians  which  had  attached  themselves  to  M.  de  La  Salle.  They  had 
even  gone  so  far  as  to  try  to  destroy  Fort  St.  Louis,  and  had  built  another 
fort  at  Chicagou,  to  which  they  had  attracted  some  of  the  Indians,  as 
they  had  been  unable  by  any  means  to  get  possession  of  this  one.  In 
fine,  the  good  Father  was  afraid  of  being  found  there,  and  preferred  to 
take  precautions  by  starting  first;  and  he  therefore  warned  those  who 
might  wish  to  go  also,  that  there  was  only  time  to  get  ready  before  he 
left.  It  troubled  us  to  see  that  these  gentlemen  were  to  be  left  without 
a  priest,  but  it  had  been  decided  to  keep  the  secret,  and  so  there  was  no 
remedy.  M.  Cavelier  had  told  the  Father  that  he  could  remain;  but  he 
had  made  up  his  mind,  as  well  as  we,  and  he  left  seven  or  eight  days 
before  us. 

The  Sieur  Boisrondet  having  decided  to  go  to  France,  as  indeed  he 
had  planned  to  do  before  our  arrival,  took  the  opportunity  of  going  down 


32  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

with  us.  There  were  not  many  men  to  manage  the  boats,  as  most  of  the 
voyageurs  had  gone  to  Montreal  on  returning  from  the  war,  in  order  to 
bring  back  goods;  (and  I  therefore  offered  him  my  services)  although  1 
was  not  very  expert  at  such  navigation.  I  had,  indeed,  made  a  number  of 
journeys  in  wooden  boats,  but  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  very 
different,  and  moreover  it  is  difficult  to  keep  your  course  in  certain  places; 
but,  as  there  was  a  number  of  us,  there  was  no  risk.  I  therefore  offered 
to  assist  the  Sieur  de  Boisrondet,  as  I  did  not  think  I  was  likely  to  have 
much  money  when  I  got  to  Canada.  I  had  given  M.  de  La  Salle  what  I 
had,  before  leaving  Rochelle,  as  did  several  others,  on  his  promise  to  give 
me  goods  when  I  got  to  that  country,  or  interest  at  cent  per  cent,  which  I 
should  not  have  failed  to  receive  if  the  disaster  had  not  happened. 
Besides  the  money  I  had  given  M.  de  La  Salle,  I  had  supplied  some  goods 
on  the  second  journey  he  made,  and  the  remainder  of  my  property  was 
left  at  the  settlement.  I  had  even  given  my  clothing  to  the  Sieur  de  La 
Salle,  and  to  his  nephew  the  Sieur  de  Morenger,  and  others.  Thus  I 
found  myself  deprived  of  all  I  possessed,  as  well  as  of  the  pay  which  he 
had  in  a  manner  obliged  me  to  accept  when  he  honoured  me  with  the 
command  in  his  absence,  of  all  that  remained  at  the  settlement,  both  men 
and  goods;  however  all  that  had  failed,  and  I  had  to  look  to  myself. 
Moreover,  although  M.  Cavelier  had  told  me  several  times  that  I  had 
no  need  to  trouble  myself,  that  he  would  stand  by  me,  and  I  should  want 
for  nothing,  yet  I  had  often  heard  it  said,  and  had  also  seen,thatonemust 
not  rely  upon  men's  promises,  and  experience  has  taught  me  the  same, 
on  many  occasions.  I  was  therefore  very  glad  to  get  a  little  money  to- 
gether, so  as  to  be  able  to  get  myself  some  clothes,  as  I  had  been  deprived 
of  my  own,  and  for  certain  other  necessaries;  though  in  reality,  and  by 
rights,  I  ought  to  have  had  my  share  of  the  furs  which  M.  Cavelier  took 
from  the  Fort  since  he  had  only  asked  for  them  in  respect  of  our  needs, 
and  money  was  due  to  me  as  well  as  to  him,  although  not  to  the  same 
amount.  However,  it  was  not  the  time  for  raising  all  these  points,  and 
my  chief  aim  was  to  get  back  in  safety,  and  take  the  news  of  what  had 
happened. 

During  our  stay  at  the  Fort,  M.  Cavelier  had  managed  to  induce  a 
number  of  Indians  to  come  with  us  to  France,  so  that,  if  it  should  be 
thought  advisable  to  send  reinforcements  to  the  country,  they  might 
assist  us  in  hunting  and  in  sending  word  to  M.  de  Tonty  when  we  got  to 
the  lower  part  of  the  river.  So,  upon  the  promises  made  to  them,  four 
of  them  undertook  to  come  with  us;  if,  however,  they  had  known  of  the 
misfortune  which  befell  the  one  M.  de  La  Salle  had  taken,  and  M.  de 
La  Salle  himself,  they  would  certainly  have  had  no  desire  to  come;  for 


THE  NARRATIVE  OF  JOUTEL  33 

he  took  two  to  France,  one  of  whom  died  of  an  illness  in  Paris,  and  the 
Indians  had  heard  of  his  death;  the  other  who  had  died  while  with  us, 
was  the  son  of  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Chauhouanons,  and  if  they  had 
known  it  they  would  have  resented  it. 


ti 


We  left  on  the  2ist  of  March,  going  up  the  river,  to  continue  our 
journey,  with  God's  help.  Five  leagues  above  the  Fort  we  came  to  a 
rapid,  where  we  were  obliged  to  get  into  the  water,  and  drag  our  boats, 
as  there  was  no  way  of  getting  on  by  punting,  the  current  being  too 
strong  to  overcome;  and  I  had  taken  service  with  the  Sieur  de  Boisrondet, 
to  assist  him  in  managing  his  boat,  at  which  I  was  serving  my  apprentice- 
ship. I  may  say  that  I  went  through  more  hardship  and  pain  than  I  had 
had  during  the  whole  of  my  journey  previously;  for,  to  begin  with,  the 
bed  of  the  river,  at  the  place  where  the  rapid  was,  being  full  of  rocks  and 
stones,  was  very  troublesome,  especially  for  me.  For  I  had  very  tender 
feet,  although  I  had  had  to  walk  barefoot  during  part  of  our  journey; 
the  water  was  extremely  cold,  and  I  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  injure  both 
my  feet,  though  I  did  not  find  it  out  until  we  had  got  up  the  rapid,  as 
the  cold  prevented  me  from  feeling  the  pain.  However  we  had  to  get  on, 
and  I  made  a  virtue  of  necessity,  which  I  did  not  do  without  considerable 
suffering,  as  I  had  to  enter  the  water  very  often  although  my  feet  were 
hurt;  but  I  profited  to  some  extent  by  a  few  days  of  bad  weather,  which 
prevented  us  from  continuing  our  journey,  and  gave  me  a  little  respite. 

We  reached  Chicago  on  the  29th  of  the  month.  We  had  gone  on 
in  advance  with  our  boat,  in  order  to  see  whether  the  goods  we  had 
buried  on  our  previous  journey  were  still  there;  and,  on  landing,  I  saw  a 
cravat  of  English  point,  which  belonged  to  me,  on  the  bank  of  the  stream. 
That  made  me  fear  that  the  things  we  had  buried  had  been  carried  off, 
which  would  have  been  awkward  for  me,  as  I  had  some  furs  and  linen  of 
my  own  there.  I  therefore  went  to  the  place  as  quickly  as  possible,  to 
see  whether  there  was  anything  left;  and  I  found  there  was  a  hole  over 
the  hiding  place,  through  which  some  beaver-skin  robes  and  some  otter 
skins  had  been  taken  out,  and  my  own  special  bundle  was  half  out.  We 
set  to  work  to  get  out  the  rest,  after  uncovering  it,  and  nothing  was 
missing  except  a  few  beaver-skin  robes  and  some  otter  skins.  I  was  the 
one  who  lost  most;  for,  as  my  bundle  was  the  mouth  of  the  hole,  the  furs 
which  I  had  obtained  in  exchange  for  some  clothing  were  spoiled,  and  so 
was  my  linen,  including  some  shirts.  Fortunately,  it  was  not  long  since 
the  opening  had  been  made;  otherwise,  everything  would  probably  have 

11  Joutel  here  enters  upon  a  detailed  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Indians 
of  the  Illinois  country,  which  we  omit. 


34  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

been  spoiled.  This  had  happened  by  the  fault  of  a  man  who  had  been 
sent  by  M.  de  Tonty,  during  the  winter,  to  see  whether  any  boats  had 
arrived,  and  whether  there  were  any  Indians  at  that  post.  This  man, 
being  in  need  of  powder,  and  knowing  that  there  was  a  quantity  in  this 
hiding  place,  had  taken  some  of  it  but,  apparently,  had  not  properly 
closed  the  hole  he  had  made;  and  the  wolves  had  scratched  at  it,  and 
opened  it  again,  and  had  pulled  out  the  furs  mentioned.  Fortunately  it 
was  not  long  before;  for,  if  the  rain  had  got  in,  everything  would  have 
been  ruined.  When  the  rest  of  the  party  arrived,  we  set  to  work  to  get 
out  the  other  things,  and  dried  them,  throwing  away  what  was  spoiled. 
My  bundle  having  been  on  top,  as  I  have  already  said,  it  was  accordingly 
the  one  that  was  damaged  most;  for,  besides  seven  or  eight  otter  skins 
lost  or  spoiled,  I  also  lost  some  cravats  and  a  shirt,  of  which  one  sleeve 
was  carried  off  whole. 

The  weather  remaining  rough,  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  stay  at 
this  place  until  the  8th  of  April,  which  was  an  advantage  to  me  by 
enabling  me  to  get  my  feet  well;  for  we  had  not  much  to  do.  Game 
was  not  very  abundant,  and  we  had  not  much  meat;  but  Providence 
supplied  us  with  a  sort  of  manna,  to  improve  our  Indian  corn.  It  was  a 
juice  which  the  trees  yield  at  this  time  of  the  year,  especially  maples, 
of  which  there  are  a  large  number  in  this  district,  growing  to  a  great 
size.  To  obtain  the  juice,  we  made  large  cuts  in  each  tree,  under  which 
we  placed  a  vessel,  and  a  knife  at  the  bottom  of  the  cut,  to  guide  the 
liquor,  which  is  really  the  sap  of  the  tree;  when  boiled,  by  dint  of  boiling 
down,  it  becomes  sugar.  We  used  this  liquid  for  boiling  our  Indian  corn, 
or  porridge,  and  it  gave  it  a  rather  pleasant  flavour,  that  is,  a  little  sweet. 
It  seems  as  if  Providence  supplies  all  needs;  for,  as  there  are  no  sugar 
canes  in  these  parts,  the  trees  supply  it,  for  this  liquor,  when  boiled  down, 
becomes  sugar,  which  is  of  very  good  quality — at  least  I  saw  some  which 
was  excellent;  it  was  redder  than  ours,  that  is,  than  the  sugar  used  in 
France,  but  was  almost  as  good.  There  is  also  a  sort  of  garlic,  in  abun- 
dance, which  is  not  quite  like  French  garlic,  the  leaf  being  shorter  and 
broader,  and  it  is  not  so  strong;  but  its  flavour  is  very  nearly  the  same, 
though  not  so  nearly  as  the  flavour  of  the  little  onions  is  to  that  of  the 
French  onion.  There  is  also  a  kind  of  chervil,  which  is  very  good;  its 
leaf  is  larger  than  that  of  the  French  chervil,  and  rather  hairy,  and  the 
stem  is  thicker. 

I  think  I  have  spoken  of  the  position  of  this  place,  Chicagou,  and  of 
the  river  which  is  formed  by  the  drainage  from  a  prairie,  which  flows  into 
the  lake;  also  of  the  drainage  from  the  other  side  of  the  same  prairie, 
which  runs  into  the  River  of  the  Illinois;  and  forms  part  of  its  waters. 


THE  NARRATIVE  or  JOUTEL  35 

Hence,  whether  you  wish  to  go  up  or  down,  you  are  obliged  ta  make  a 
portage,  sometimes  for  a  quarter  of  a  league,  at  others  half  2  league  or 
even  three-quarters,  according  to  whether  the  water  is  high  or  low;  but 
it  would  be  easy  to  make  a  connection  between  these  two  rivers,  as  the 
ground  is  very  flat  and  it  is  soft  land.  It  would,  however,  require  a 
strong  post  to  bear  such  an  expense. 

To  return  to  our  journey,  we  entered  the  lake  on  Thursday  the  8th 
of  April  and  went  towards  the  north,  where  there  was  less  fear  of  danger 
from  the  Iroquois,  as  their  country  is  in  the  other  direction,  and  the 
hunting  much  better,  and  so  we  began  to  make  progress;  but  when  the 
wind  blew  from  the  offing,  or  against  us,  we  were  compelled  to  stop. 
For  these  lakes  are  fresh  water  seas,  and  their  waves  as  great  as  on  the 
high  seas,  and  you  cannot  see  the  land  on  the  further  shore.  Moreover  we 
had  only  bark  canoes,  which  were  not  capable  of  resisting  heavy  waves  or 
bad  weather.  We  kept  on  until  the  i5th,  when  we  came  to  a  river  which 
is  called  Quinetonant,  where  there  is  a  tribe  or  village  of  Indians  in  the 
summer;  but  they  go  away  in  winter,  to  hunt  beavers  or  other  animals. 
The  hunting,  however,  is  not  so  good  there  as  in  the  direction  of  the 
Illinois,  or  the  country  we  traversed  on  our  route;  for  we  found  hardly 
any  game  except  a  few  roebucks,  which  were  very  lean  at  this  season. 
We  had,  however,  little  cause  to  be  discouraged  at  our  not  finding  much 
game,  as  our  Indians  were  not  very  successful.  We  had  four  or  five 
Indians  with  us,  of  whom  M.  Cavelier  had  charge,  as  I  have  stated  else- 
where, so  that  they  might  see  France,  and  in  the  expectation  that  they 
might  be  of  service  in  case  we  should  return  to  the  country,  as  these  men 
have  a  much  better  notion  than  we  have,  both  of  hunting  and  finding 
their  way.  They  did  not,  however,  get  us  much  meat  to  eat,  and  we 
often  thought  ourselves  fortunate  if  we  got  what  had  been  left  by  the 
wolves,  of  which  there  are  a  good  number  in  the  district.  I  noticed  the 
skill  of  these  animals  in  catching  roebucks,  by  pursuing  them  until  they 
drove  them  straight  into  the  lakes,  where  the  roebucks  were  obliged  to 
run  into  the  water,  to  escape  the  fury  of  the  wolves,  as  the  latter  do  not 
like  getting  wet;  but  they  were  clever  enough  to  keep  watch  over  the 
roebucks  from  the  shore  until  they  came  out  of  the  water,  either  from 
weariness,  or  when  the  wind  blew  from  the  offing,  which  often  drowned 
them  and  cast  them  on  to  the  shore,  when  the  wolves  ate  them  up.  We 
even  saw  wolves  at  a  distance,  on  the  edge  of  the  water,  standing  sentinel 
over  some  roebucks.  We  landed  lower  down,  lest  the  wolves  should 
catch  sight  of  us  and  take  to  flight,  and  the  roebuck  should  escape  also. 
They  do  the  same  thing  with  all  the  other  animals,  such  as  stags,  hinds, 
etc.  The  further  we  advanced,  the  more  difference  we  found  in  the 


36  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

country,  which  fell  off  very  much  from  what  we  had  passed  through. 
On  the  28th  we  came  to  a  tribe  called  Poutouatamy,  which  is  about  half 
way  to  Michilimaquinacq.  We  found  the  Indians  there,  and  bought 
Indian  corn  from  them  for  the  rest  of  our  journey,  that  is,  to  reach  Mis- 
silimaquinacq.  These  tribes  sell  their  corn  very  dear,  for  we  paid  them 
at  the  rate  of  20  to  25  livres  a  sack,  which  holds  little  more  than  a  bushel 
and  a  half,  and  it  is  all  paid  for  in  beaver  skins,  otter-skins  and  other 
goods,  which  are  given  to  them  in  exchange.  We  left  that  place  on  the 
last  day  of  the  month,  and  continued  our  journey  straight  to  Micili- 
maquinacq,  where  we  arrived  on  the  loth  of  May.  We  were  surprised  to 
find  they  had  no  news  there,  no  one  having  arrived  from  Montreal.  We 
were  therefore  obliged  to  stay  there  for  some  time,  to  wait  for  some 
opportunity  of  going  down;  for  no  one  seemed  likely  to  take  the  risk,  as 
we  were  at  war  with  the  Iroquois,  who  were  dangerous  men,  and  might 
lay  ambushes  at  various  places  where  one  is  obliged  to  pass,  since  they 
cannot  be  avoided,  on  account  of  the  falls  and  rapids  in  this  river.  Few 
people  therefore,  would  take  the  risk  of  going  down;  and  moreover  we 
were  very  anxious  to  learn  how  matters  stood  since  the  last  campaign. 


V 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


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THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME,  1699 

In  the  Akanscas  Country 

this  2nd  January  1699. 
Monseigneur, 

JHE  last  letter  that  I  had  the  honor  of  Writing  to  you  was  from 
Michilimakinac  whence  we  started  on  the  fourteenth  of 
September  journeying  overland  to  meet  our  Canoe  which  had 
rounded  the  pointe  aux  Iroquois  and  had  Gone  to  wait  for  us 
at  the  Village  of  the  Outaiwacs  which  Village  contains  about  three 
Hundred  men.  God  grant  that  they  may  Respond  to  the  Care  taken 
and  the  labors  performed  by  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers  for  their 
Instruction;  but  they  seem  less  advanced  in  Christianity  than  the 
Illinois  who,  we  are  told,  have  only  recently  had  Missionaries.  We  left 
that  Village  on  the  I5th  September  to  the  number  of  eight  Canoes:  four 
for  the  River  of  the  Miamis  under  the  Sieur  de  Vincenne;1  our  three 
Canoes  and  that  of  Monsieur  de  Tonty  who,  as  I  already  wrote  you  in  my 
last,  had  Resolved  to  accompany  us  to  the  a  Canscas.  I  cannot  suffi- 
ofently  express,  Monseigneur,  the  obligations  we  owe  him.  He  Con- 
ducted us  to  the  Acans?as;  he  procured  us  much  pleasure  during  the 
<toyage;  he  greatly  facilitated  our  passage  through  many  nations,  securing 
(fs  the  friendship  of  some  and  intimidating  the  others — I  mean  the 
Rations  which  through  jealousy  or  the  desire  to  pillage  us  sought  to 
depose  our  passage.  He  not  only  did  his  duty  as  a  brave  man  but  he 
a&o  performed  those  of  a  Zealous  Missionary,  entering  into  all  our  views, 
qjchorting  the  Savages  everywhere  to  pray  and  to  Listen  to  the  Mis- 
sfbrtjiries.  He  soothed  the  minds  of  our  servants  in  their  petty  whims; 
h£  Supported  by  his  Example  the  Devotional  exercises  that  the  journey 
allowed  us  to  perform  and  frequently  approached  the  Sacraments.  It 
T^pujd  be  useless  for  me,  Monseigneur,  to  give  you  a  description  of  Lake 
Mieocpgan  on  which  we  embarked  on  leaving  the  fort  of  the  Outawacs. 
Wii^route  is  fairly  well  known.  We  would  have  gone  by  the  South 
[past]  Side  which  is  much  finer  than  the  North  [West]  but  as  it  is  rhr 

:  'Jean  Baptiste  Bissot,  Sieur  de  Vincennes,  was  a  Canadian  officer  who  was  prom>nentlv 
identified  with  affairs  in  the  Northwest.  He  was  for  several  years  commandant  among  the 
Miami.  He  died  in  1719. 


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THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME,  1699 

In  the  Akanscas  Country 

this  2nd  January  1699. 
Monseigneur, 

SHE  last  letter  that  I  had  the  honor  of  Writing  to  you  was  from 
Michilimakinac  whence  we  started  on  the  fourteenth  of 
September  journeying  overland  to  meet  our  Canoe  which  had 
rounded  the  pointe  aux  Iroquois  and  had  Gone  to  wait  for  us 
at  the  Village  of  the  Outaiwacs  which  Village  contains  about  three 
Hundred  men.  God  grant  that  they  may  Respond  to  the  Care  taken 
and  the  labors  performed  by  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers  for  their 
Instruction;  but  they  seem  less  advanced  in  Christianity  than  the 
Illinois  who,  we  are  told,  have  only  recently  had  Missionaries.  We  left 
that  Village  on  the  I5th  September  to  the  number  of  eight  Canoes:  four 
for  the  River  of  the  Miamis  under  the  Sieur  de  Vincenne;1  our  three 
Canoes  and  that  of  Monsieur  de  Tonty  who,  as  I  already  wrote  you  in  my 
last,  had  Resolved  to  accompany  us  to  the  a  Canscas.  I  cannot  suffi- 
ciently express,  Monseigneur,  the  obligations  we  owe  him.  He  Con- 
ducted us  to  the  Acanscas;  he  procured  us  much  pleasure  during  the 
voyage;  he  greatly  facilitated  our  passage  through  many  nations,  securing 
us  the  friendship  of  some  and  intimidating  the  others — I  mean  the 
Nations  which  through  jealousy  or  the  desire  to  pillage  us  sought  to 
oppose  our  passage.  He  not  only  did  his  duty  as  a  brave  man  but  he 
also  performed  those  of  a  Zealous  Missionary,  entering  into  all  our  views, 
exhorting  the  Savages  everywhere  to  pray  and  to  Listen  to  the  Mis- 
sionaries. He  soothed  the  minds  of  our  servants  in  their  petty  whims; 
he  supported  by  his  Example  the  Devotional  exercises  that  the  journey 
allowed  us  to  perform  and  frequently  approached  the  Sacraments.  It 
would  be  useless  for  me,  Monseigneur,  to  give  you  a  description  of  Lake 
Mietpgan  on  which  we  embarked  on  leaving  the  fort  of  the  Outawacs. 
This  route  is  fairly  well  known.  We  would  have  gone  by  the  South 
[East]  Side  which  is  much  finer  than  the  North  [West]  but  as  it  is  the 

'Jean  Baptiste  Bissot,  Sieur  de  Vincennes,  was  a  Canadian  officer  who  was  prominently 
identified  with  affairs  in  the  Northwest.  He  was  for  several  years  commandant  among  the 
Miami.  He  died  in  1719. 


38  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

route  usually  followed  by  the  Iroquois  who,  not  Long  before,  had  made 
an  Attack  on  the  Soldiers  and  savages  proceeding  to  the  country  of  the 
Miamis,  this  compelled  us  to  take  the  North  Side  which  is  not  so  agree- 
able nor  so  well  stocked  with  game  though  it  is  easier  I  believe  in  the 
autumn  because  one  is  Sheltered  from  the  North  west  winds.  On  the 
2irst  of  the  Month  we  reached  the  place  where  the  bay  of  the  puants 
[Green  Bay]  has  to  be  crossed,  which  is  Distant  forty  Leagues  from 
Michilimakinac.  We  Camped  on  an  island  called  1'isle  du  detour 
because  at  that  spot  the  Lake  begins  to  trend  to  the  south.  We  were 
wind-bound  on  that  island  for  six  days  during  which  our  people  occupied 
themselves  in  setting  nets  and  caught  great  quantities  of  white  fish  which 
are  excellent  eating  and  a  very  plentiful  manna  that  fails  not  along  that 
Lake  where  there  is  a  dearth  of  meat  almost  every  day.  On  the  28th 
we  crossed  from  island  to  Island.  The  bay  of  the  puants  is  about  twenty 
or  thirty  Leagues  long.  One  passes  on  the  right  hand  another  small  bay 
called  that  of  the  Noquest.  The  bay  of  the  puants  is  inhabited  by 
several  Savage  Tribes:  the  Noquest,  the  Folles  avoine,  the  Renards,  the 
Poutouatamis  and  the  Sakis.  The  Jesuit  Fathers  have  a  Mission  at  the 
bottom  of  that  bay.1  We  would  have  liked  very  much  to  pass  by  the 
bottom  of  that  bay  and  it  would  have  greatly  shortened  our  journey.  A 
small  River  has  to  be  ascended  wherein  there  are  only  three  Leagues  of 
Rapids  and  which  is  about  sixty  Leagues  Long;  then  by  means  of  a  short 
portage  one  reaches  the  River  Wiskonsin  which  is  a  very  fine  one  and  by 
going  down  it  one  takes  only  two  days  to  reach  the  Migissipi.  In  truth 
there  is  a  distance  of  two  hundred  Leagues  from  the  Spot  where  this 
River  falls  into  the  Missicjpi  to  the  place  where  the  River  of  the  Illinois 
discharges  into  the  same  Migissipi;  the  Current  however  is  so  strong 
that  the  distance  is  soon  got  over.  But  the  Renards  who  live  on  that 
little  River  that  one  ascends  on  leaving  the  bay  to  reach  Wiskonsin,  will 
not  allow  any  persons  to  pass  lest  they  might  go  to  the  Sieues  with 
whom  they  are  at  war  and  consequently  have  already  pillaged  several 
Frenchmen  who  tried  to  go  that  way.  This  compelled  us  to  take  the 
route  via  Chikagou.  On  the  2gth  September  we  arrived  at  the  village 
of  the  Pous,8  distant  about  twenty  Leagues  from  the  crossing  of  the  bay. 
There  had  formerly  been  a  very  large  village  here  but  after  the  Death  of 
the  chief  a  portion  of  the  Savages  had  gone  to  live  in  the  bay  and  the 

*  The  mission  at  De  Pere,  whence  Marquette  had  started  on  his  last  journey  in  the 
autumn  of  1674. 

»A  contraction  of  "  Poutouatami."  Modern  Washington  Island  in  Green  Bay  was 
often  called  Potawatomi  Island.  With  unconscious  humor  the  designation  "Lea  Poux"  as 
applied  to  this  island  was  corrupted  by  the  American  settlers  into  "Louse  Island." 


THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME  39 

remainder  were  preparing  to  go  there  when  we  passed.  We  stopped  in 
that  Village.  On  the  joth  we  purchased  some  provisions  which  we 
needed.  We  started  on  the  3irst  and  on  the  4th  October  we  came  upon 
another  small  Village  of  Poux  on  a  small  river  where  Reverend  Father 
Marais  had  spent  the  winter  with  some  Frenchmen  and  had  planted  a 
Cross.  We  stayed  there  for  the  remainder  of  the  day.  We  left  on  the 
5th  and  after  being  wind-bound  for  two  days  we  started  and  after  two 
days  of  heavy  wind  we  reached  Milwakik  [Milwaukee]  on  the  9th.  This 
is  a  River  where  there  is  a  Village  which  has  been  a  large  one  consisting 
of  Mascoutins,  of  Renards  and  also  of  some  Poux.  We  stayed  there  two 
days  partly  on  account  of  the  wind  and  partly  to  recruit  our  people  a 
little  because  there  is  an  abundance  of  Duck  and  teal  in  the  River.  On 
the  eleventh  of  October  we  started  early  in  the  Morning  from  the  fort  of 
Melwatik  and  at  an  early  hour  we  reached  Kipikawi  Distant  therefrom 
about  eight  Leagues.  Here  we  separated  from  Monsieur  de  Vincenne's 
party  which  continued  on  its  route  to  the  Miamis.  Some  savages  had 
led  us  to  Hope  that  we  could  ascend  this  River  and  after  a  portage  of 
about  two  Leagues  we  should  descend  by  another  River  called  Pipctiwi4 
which  falls  into  the  River  of  the  Illinois  about  25  or  30  Leagues  from 
Chikagou  and  that  we  should  thereby  Avoid  all  the  portages  that  had 
to  be  made  by  the  Chikagou  road.  We  Avoided  this  River  which  is 
about  ten  Leagues  in  Length  to  the  portage  and  flows  through  agreeable 
prairies  but  as  there  was  no  water  in  it  we  judged  that  there  would  not 
be  any  either  in  the  Peschwi  and  that  instead  of  shortening  our  journey 
we  should  have  been  obliged  to  go  over  forty  Leagues  of  portage  road; 
this  compelled  us  to  take  the  route  via  Chikagou  which  is  Distant  about 
twenty  Leagues.  We  remained  five  days  at  Kipikawi,  leaving  on  the 
I7th  and  after  being  wind-bound  on  the  i8th  and  igth  we  Camped  on 
the  2oth  at  a  place  5  Leagues  from  Chikagou.  We  should  have  arrived 
there  early  on  the  2irst  but  the  wind  which  suddenly  arose  on  the  Lake 
compelled  us  to  land  half  a  league  from  Etpikagou.*  We  experienced 
considerable  difficulty  in  landing  and  in  saving  our  Canoes;  we  all  had  to 
jump  into  the  water.  One  must  be  very  careful  along  the  Lakes  and 
especially  Lake  Mixcigan  whose  shores  are  very  low,  to  take  to  the  land 
as  soon  as  possible  when  the  waves  rise  on  the  lake  for  the  rollers  become 

4  The  modern  city  of  Racine  stands  on  the  site  of  "Kipikawi,"  at  the  mouth  of  Root  River, 
the  stream  the  travelers  hoped  to  ascend.  The_  "Pipctiwi,"  which  they  expected  to  descend 
to  the  Illinois,  was  modern  Fox  River  (of  Illinois).  The  original  name,  variously  spelled  by 
different  writers,  means  "Buffalo  River."  According  to  a  recent  investigator  it  still  survive* 
in  the  designation  "Pistakee  Lake,"  a  popular  resort  near  the  head  of  Fox  River. 

*  Probably  this  is  simply  another  variant  of  the  name  Chicago. 


40  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

so  high  in  so  short  a  time  that  one  Runs  the  risk  of  breaking  his  Canoe 
and  of  losing  all  it  contains.  Many  Travellers  have  already  been  wrecked 
there.  We,  Monsieur  de  Montigny,  Davion  and  myself,  went  by  land  to 
the  house  of  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers  while  our  people  remained 
behind.  We  found  there  Reverend  Father  Pinet  and  Reverend  Father 
Binneteau  who  had  recently  arrived  from  the  Illinois  country  and  Was 
slightly  111.  I  cannot  describe  to  you,  Monseigneur,  with  what  cordiality 
and  manifestations  of  friendship  these  Reverend  Fathers  received  and 
embraced  us  while  we  had  the  consolation  of  residing  with  them.  Their 
House  is  built  on  the  bank  of  a  small  River  with  the  Lake  on  one  side  and 
a  fine  and  vast  prairie  on  the  other.  The  Village  of  the  savages  contains 
over  a  Hundred  and  fifty  Cabins  and  a  League  up  the  River  is  still  another 
Village  almost  as  large.  They  are  all  Miamis.  Reverend  Father  Pinet 
usually  resides  there  Except  in  winter  when  the  savages  are  all  engaged 
in  hunting  and  then  he  goes  to  the  Illinois.  We  saw  no  savages  there,  they 
had  already  started  for  their  hunt.  If  one  may  judge  of  the  future  from 
the  short  time  that  Reverend  Father  Pinet  has  passed  in  this  Mission  we 
may  Believe  that  if  God  will  bless  the  labors  and  the  Zeal  of  that  Holy 
Missionary,  there  will  be  a  great  number  of  good  and  fervent  Christians. 
It  is  true  that  but  slight  results  are  obtained  with  reference  to  the  older 
persons  who  are  hardened  in  profligacy,  but  all  the  Children  are  baptized 
and  jugglers  even  who  are  the  most  opposed  to  Christianity,  Allow  their 
Children  to  be  Baptized.  They  are  also  very  glad  to  let  them  be  in- 
structed. Several  girls  of  a  certain  age  and  many  Young  boys  have 
already  been  and  are  also  being  instructed  so  that  we  may  Hope  that 
when  the  Old  Trunks  die,  they  will  be  a  new  and  entirely  Christian 
people. 

On  the  24th  October  the  wind  fell  and  we  sent  for  our  canoes  with 
all  our  effects  and  finding  that  the  water  Was  extraordinarily  low,  we 
made  a  Cache  in  the  ground  with  some  of  them  and  took  only  what  Was 
absolutely  necessary  for  our  journey  intending  to  send  for  the  remainder 
in  the  spring.  We  left  brother  Alexandre  in  charge  thereof  as  he  agreed 
to  remain  there  with  Father  Pinet's  man.  We  started  from  Chikagou 
on  the  2gth  and  slept  about  two  Leagues  from  it  on  the  little  River  that 
afterward  loses  itself  in  the  prairies.  On  the  following  day  we  Began 
the  portage  which  is  about  three  Leagues  in  length  when  the  waters  are 
low  and  is  only  three  fourths  of  a  League  in  the  Spring  for  then  one  can 
embark  on  a  small  Lake  that  discharges  into  a  branch  of  the  river  of  the 
Illinois  and  When  the  waters  are  low  a  portage  has  to  be  made  to  that 
branch.  On  that  day  we  got  over  half  our  portage  and  would  have  gone 


THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME  41 

still  further  when  we  perceived  that  a  little  boy  given  us  by  Monsieur 
de  Muis  and  who  had  set  out  alone  although  he  was  told  to  wait,  was 
Lost.  We  had  not  thought  of  it  because  all  our  People  Were  busy.  We 
were  obliged  to  stop  to  look  for  him;  everybody  went  and  several  gun- 
shots were  fired  but  he  could  not  be  found.  It  was  a  rather  unfortunate 
accident;  we  Were  pressed  for  time  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  season 
and  the  waters  being  very  low  we  saw  very  well  that  as  we  were  obliged  to 
carry  our  Baggage  and  our  Canoe,  it  would  take  very  long  to  reach  the 
Illinois.  This  compelled  us  to  separate.  Messieurs  de  Montigny,  de 
Tonty  and  Davion  Continued  the  portage  on  the  following  day  while  I 
with  four  other  men  went  back  to  look  for  the  little  boy.  While  retracing 
my  steps  I  met  Fathers  Pinet  and  Binneteau  who  were  on  the  way  to  the 
Illinois  with  two  Frenchmen  and  a  savage.  We  looked  for  the  boy 
during  the  whole  of  that  day  also  without  finding  him.  As  it  was  the 
day  after  the  feast  of  all  the  Saints,  I  was  compelled  to  go  to  Chikagou 
for  the  night  with  our  people.  After  they  had  heard  Mass  and  performed 
their  devotions  early  in  the  Morning  they  spent  the  whole  of  that  day 
also  looking  for  the  little  boy  without  getting  sight  of  him.  It  Was  very 
difficult  to  find  him  in  the  long  grass  for  this  country  consists  of  nothing 
but  prairies  with  a  few  groves  of  trees.  We  were  afraid  to  set  fire  to 
the  long  grass  lest  we  might  burn  the  boy.  Monsieur  de  Montigny  had 
told  me  to  remain  only  one  day  because  the  cold  weather  pressed  us  and 
this  compelled  me  to  proceed  after  giving  orders  to  brother  Alexandre  to 
seek  him  and  to  take  some  Frenchmen  who  were  at  Chikagou.  I  started 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  and  November.  I  crossed  the  portage  and  passed 
the  night  at  the  River  or  branch  of  the  River  of  the  Illinois.  We 
descended  the  River  as  far  as  an  island.  During  the  night  we  were 
surprised  to  see  a  slight  fall  of  snow  and  on  the  following  day  the  River 
was  frozen  over  in  several  places.  We  had  therefore  to  Break  the  ice 
and  haul  the  Canoe  because  there  was  no  open  water.  This  compelled 
us  to  leave  our  Canoe  and  go  by  land  to  seek  Monsieur  de  Montigny 
whom  we  met  on  the  following  day,  the  5th  of  the  month,  at  L'isle  aux 
cerfs.  They  had  already  gone  over  two  Leagues  of  portage.  We  still 
had  four  Leagues  to  do  as  far  as  mont  jolliet.  This  took  us  three  days 
and  we  arrived  on  the  8th  of  the  month.  From  L'isle  a  la  cache  to  the 
said  mont  jolliet,  a  distance  of  several  Leagues,  everything  has  to  be 
portaged  as  there  is  no  water  in  the  River  except  in  the  spring.  The 
banks  of  this  River  are  very  agreeable;  they  consist  of  prairies  bounded 
by  small  Hills  and  very  fine  thickets;  there  are  numbers  of  deer  in  them 
and  along  the  River  are  great  quantities  of  Game  of  all  kinds,  so  that 


42  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

after  crossing  the  portage  one  of  our  men  while  taking  a  walk  procured 
enough  to  provide  us  with  an  abundant  supper  as  well  as  breakfast  on 
the  following  day.     Mont  Jolliet  is  a  very  fine  mound  of  earth  in  the 
prairie  to  the  right  descending  a  little.     It  is  about  30  feet  High.     The 
savages  say  that  at  the  time  of  the  great  deluge  one  of  their  ancestors 
escaped  and  that  this  small  mountain  is  his  Canoe  which  he  upset  there. 
On  leaving  Mont  jolliet  we  proceeded  about  two  Leagues  by  water.     We 
remained  two  whole  days  at  our  short  portage  about  a  Quarter  of  a 
league  in  length.     As  one  of  our  men  named  Charbonneau  had  killed 
several  turkeys  and  bustards  in  the  morning  together  with  a  Deer  we 
were  very  glad  to  give  our  people  a  good  meal  and  to  let  them  rest  for  a 
day.     On   the  tenth  we  crossed  the  short  portage  and   found  half  a 
League  of  water  after  which  two  men  carried  the  Canoe  for  about  a 
League,  the  others  walking  behind,  each  carrying  his  load,  and  we  em- 
barked for  a  league  and  a  half.     We  Slept  at  a  short  portage  Five  or  six 
arpents  in  length.     On  the  eleventh  after  crossing  the  short  portage  we 
came  to  the  river  Teatiki  [Kankakee]  which  is  the  true  river  of  the 
Illinois,  that  which  we  descended  being  only  a  Distant  branch.     We 
put  all  our  baggage  in  the  Canoe  which  two  men  paddled  while  Monsieur 
de  Tonty  and  ourselves  with  the  remainder  of  our  men  proceeded  by 
land  walking  all  the  time  through  fine  Prairies.     We  came  to  the  Village 
of  the  Peangichias,  Miamis  who  formerly  dwelt  at  the  falls  of  the  Micipi 
and  who  have  for  some  Years  been  Settled  at  this  place.     There  was  no 
one  in  the  Village  for  all  had  Gone  hunting.     That  day  we  Slept  near 
Massane,  a  small  River  which  falls  into  the  River  of  the  Illinois.     On  that 
day  we  Began  to  see  oxen  and  on  the  morrow  two  of  our  men  killed  four; 
but  As  these  animals  Are  in  poor  condition  at  this  season  we  Contented 
ourselves  with  taking  the  Tongues  only.     These  oxen  seem  to  me  to  be 
larger  than  ours;  they  have  a  hump  on  their  backs;  their  legs  are  very 
Short;  the  head  is  very  Large  and  so  covered  with  long  hair  that  it  is 
said  a  bullet  cannot  penetrate  it.     We  afterward  saw  some  nearly  every 
day  during  our  journey  as  far  as  the  Acanscas.     After  experiencing 
considerable  difficulty  during  three  days  in  carrying  and  hauling  our 
baggage  in  the  Canoe  owing  to  the  river  Being  rapid,  low  and  full  of 
Rocks,  we  arrived  on  the  I5th  November  at  the  Place  called  the  old  fort. 
This  is  a  rock  on  the  bank  of  the  river  about  a  Hundred  feet  high  whereon 
Monsieur  de  la  Salle  had  caused  a  fort  to  be  built  which  has  been  aban- 
doned because  the  savages  Went  to  reside  about  twenty  five  Leagues 
further  down.     We  slept  a  League  above  it  where  we  found  two  Cabins 
of  savages;  we  were  Consoled  on  finding  a  woman  who  was  a  thoroughly 


THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME  43 

good  Christian.  The  distance  between  Chicagou  and  the  fort  is  con- 
sidered to  be  about  thirty  Leagues.  There  we  Commenced  the  Naviga- 
tion that  Continues  to  be  always  fair  as  far  as  the  fortof  Permetawi6  where 
the  savages  now  are  and  which  we  reached  on  the  igth  November.  We 
found  there  Reverend  Father  Binetot  and  Reverend  Father  Marais 
[Pinet]  who,  owing  to  their  not  being  laden  when  they  left  Chigaou  Had 
arrived  6  or  7  days  before  us.  We  also  saw  Reverend  Father  Pinet 
[Marais]  there.  All  the  Reverend  Jesuit  Fathers  gave  us  the  best  possible 
reception.  Their  sole  regret  Was  to  see  us  compelled  to  leave  so  soon  on 
Account  of  the  frost.  We  took  there  a  Frenchman  who  had  lived  three 
years  with  the  Acanscas  and  who  knows  a  little  of  their  Language.  This 
Mission  of  the  Illinois  seems  to  me  the  finest  that  the  Reverend  Jesuit 
Fathers  have  up  here  for  without  counting  all  the  Children  who  are 
Baptized,  a  number  of  adults  have  abandoned  all  their  Superstitions  and 
live  as  thoroughly  good  Christians;  they  frequently  approach  the  Sacra- 
ments and  are  Married  in  church.  We  had  not  the  Consolation  of  seeing 
all  these  good  Christians  often  for  they  Were  all  scattered  down  the  bank 
of  the  River  for  the  purpose  of  hunting.  We  saw  Only  some  women 
Savages  Married  to  Frenchmen  who  Edified  us  by  their  modesty  and 
their  assiduity  in  going  to  prayer  several  times  a  day  in  the  chapel.  We 
chanted  high  Mass  in  it  with  Deacon  and  sub-deacon  on  the  feast  of  the 
presentation  of  the  most  Blessed  Virgin  and  after  commending  our 
voyage  to  her  and  having  placed  ourselves  under  her  protection  we  left 
the  Illinois  on  the  22nd  November.  We  had  to  break  the  ice  for  two  or 
three  arpents  to  get  out  of  Lake  Pemstewi  [Peoria].  We  had  four 
Canoes:  that  of  Monsieur  de  Ton  ty,  our  two  and  another  belonging  to  Five 
young  voyageurs  who  were  glad  to  accompany  us,  partly  on  Account  of 
Monsieur  de  Tonty  who  is  universally  beloved  by  all  the  voyageurs  and 
partly  also  to  see  the  country.  Reverend  Fathers  Binneteau  and  Pinet 
also  came  with  us  a  part  of  the  way  as  they  wished  to  go  and  spend  the 
whole  winter  with  their  Savages.  On  the  first  day  after  our  departure 
we  came  to  the  Cabin  of  Rouenssas,  the  most  Notable  of  the  Illinois 
chiefs  and  a  very  good  Christian.  He  received  us  with  the  politeness, 
not  of  a  Savage  but  of  a  well-bred  Frenchman.  He  Led  us  to  his  Cabin 
and  made  us  sleep  there.  He  presented  us  with  three  Deer  one  of  which 
he  gave  to  Monsieur  another  to  the  Father  and  the  third  to  us.  We 
learned  from  him  that  the  Chawanons,  the  Chikaihas,  and  the  Kakin- 
inpols  had  attacked  the  Kaoukias,  an  Illinois  Tribe  about  Five  or  six 
Leagues  below  the  discharge  of  the  river  of  the  Illinois  Along  the  Micissipi 

6  On  Lake  Peoria,  where  La  Salle  had  built  Fort  Crevecoeur. 


44  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

and  that  they  had  killed  ten  men  and  taken  nearly  one  Hundred  Slaves 
both  women  and  children.  As  this  Roiiensa  is  very  quick-witted  we 
Thought  we  should  give  him  some  Presents  to  induce  him  to  facilitate 
our  passage  through  the  Illinois  tribes,  not  so  much  for  this  first  voyage 
as  for  the  others  when  we  should  not  be  so  strong;  For  all  these  nations 
up  here  are  very  suspicious  and  easily  become  jealous  when  we  go  to 
other  nations.  We  therefore  presented  him  with  a  Collar  to  show  him 
that  we  formed  an  alliance  with  him  and  with  all  his  Nation  and  that  as 
he  was  a  Christian  he  should  have  no  greater  pleasure  than  in  seeing  the 
other  nations  participate  in  the  happiness  he  enjoyed  and  for  that  reason 
he  was  obliged  to  facilitate  as  much  as  he  could  the  designs  of  the 
Missionaries  who  were  going  to  instruct  them.  We  afterward  gave 
them  a  small  present  of  powder.  On  the  28th,  after  saying  our  Masses 
when  Roiiensas  and  his  family  received  Communion  at  Monsieur  de 
Montigny's,  we  left  and  came  to  a  small  Village  of  Savages  on  disem- 
barking at  which  the  chief,  named  L'ours,  told  us  that  it  was  not  advisable 
that  we  should  go  into  the  Micissipi  country.  But  Monsieur  won  him 
over  or  intimidated  him  by  his  words,  telling  him  that  we  Were  Sent  by 
the  Master  of  life  and  the  great  master  of  prayer  to  instruct  the  savages 
whither  we  were  going  and  that  he  Was  Hired  by  the  Governor  to 
accompany  us  so  that  if  he  molested  us  he  attacked  the  Very  person  of 
our  Governor.  The  chief  made  no  answer  to  these  words.  We  embarked 
and  on  the  24th  we  slept  at  another  Village  of  several  Cabins  where  we 
found  one  Tiret,  a  chief  who  was  formerly  famous  in  his  nation  but  who 
has  since  been  Abandoned  by  nearly  all  his  people.  He  made  several 
complaints  to  Monsieur  de  Tonty  who  reproached  him  saying  that  it 
was  his  evil  Conduct  that  earned  him  the  hatred  of  his  people;  that  he 
had  Long  before  told  him  to  Give  up  his  jugglery- — for  he  is  a  famous 
Sorcerer — and  to  pray;  but  that  he  had  not  yet  done  so.  He  afterwards 
went  to  the  prayers  and  the  Savage  promised  him  that  he  would  get 
instructed  on  the  following  day.  On  the  25th  of  the  month  we  parted 
from  Father  Pinet  who  remains  in  this  Village  to  spend  the  winter  for 
there  are  a  good  many  savages  here  who  pray  and  on  the  26th  we  came  to 
a  Village  whose  chief  was  away  hunting  with  all  the  young  men.  Some 
Old  men  came  to  meet  us,  weeping  for  the  Death  of  their  people  killed 
by  the  Chawanons.  We  went  to  their  Cabins  and  they  told  us  that  we 
did  wrong  to  pass  through  the  Chaouchias  with  the  Chawanons  to  whom, 
they  said,  Monsieur  de  Tonty  had  given  Arms  and  who  had  attacked 
them.  Monsieur  de  Tonty  replied  that  he  had  left  the  Illinois  country 
more  than  three  years  before  and  had  not  been  able  to  see  the  Chawanons 


THE  LETTER  OF  FATHER  ST.  COSME  45 

to  give  them  Arms.  But  the  savages  Persisted  in  saying  several  things 
without  reason  and  we  saw  very  well  that  they  were  evil-Minded  and 
that  we  should  leave  as  soon  as  possible  before  the  arrival  of  the  Young 
men  who  were  to  return  the  following  morning.  Therefore  we  went  out 
abruptly  and  when  Monsieur  de  Tonty  told  them  he  Feared  not  men, 
they  said  that  they  pitied  our  Young  men  who  would  all  be  killed. 
Monsieur  de  Tonty  replied  that  they  had  seen  him  with  the  Iroquois 
and  knew  what  he  could  do  and  how  many  men  he  could  kill.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  all  these  savages  have  a  very  high  Esteem  for  him. 
He  had  only  to  be  in  one's  Company  to  prevent  any  insult  being  offered. 
We  embarked  at  once  and  went  to  Sleep  at  a  place  Five  or  six  Leagues 
from  that  Village.  On  the  following  day  we  were  detained  for  some 
hours  Owing  to  quantities  of  ice  drifting  down  the  River  and  on  the  28th 
we  landed  at  a  Village  consisting  of  about  twenty  Cabins  where  we  saw 
the  woman-chief.  This  woman  enjoys  great  repute  in  her  Nation  owing 
to  her  Wit  and  her  great  Liberality  and  because,  as  she  has  many  sons 
and  sons-in-law  who  are  good  hunters,  she  often  gives  feasts  which  is 
the  way  to  acquire  the  esteem  of  the  savages  and  of  all  their  Nations  in 
a  short  time.  We  said  mass  in  this  Village  in  the  Cabin  of  a  Soldier 
named  La  Viollette  who  was  married  to  a  Savage  and  whose  Child 
Monsieur  de  Montigny  Baptized.  Monsieur  de  Tonty  related  to  the 
woman-chief  what  had  been  said  to  us  in  the  last  Village.  She  dis- 
approved of  it  all  and  told  him  that  the  whole  of  her  tribe  were  greatly 
rejoiced  at  seeing  him  once  more  as  well  as  us  but  that  they  regretted 
that  they  could  not  be  sure  of  seeing  him  again  and  of  having  him 
Longer  with  them.  We  left  this  village  and  traveled  about  8  Leagues 
between  the  2gth  November  and  the  jrd  December.  We  were  detained 
at  the  same  place  by  the  ice  which  completely  barred  the  river.  During 
that  time  we  had  an  abundance  of  provisions  for  no  one  need  fast  on  that 
River  so  great  is  the  quantity  of  game  of  all  kinds:  Swans,  Bustards, 
Duck.  It  is  bordered  by  a  belt  of  very  fine  timber  which  is  not  very 
Wide  so  that  one  soon  reaches  beautiful  prairies  containing  numbers  of 
Deer.  Charbonneau  killed  several  while  we  Were  detained  and  others 
killed  some  also.  Navigation  is  not  very  easy  on  this  River  Opuanes. 
The  water  is  shallow.  We  were  sometimes  obliged  to  walk  with  a 
portion  of  our  people  while  the  others  propelled  the  Canoes,  not  without 
trouble  for  they  Were  often  obliged  to  get  into  the  water  which  Was 
already  very  cold  while  we  were  detained.  Reverend  Father  Binnetost 
whom  we  had  Left  at  the  Village  of  the  woman-chief,  came  to  see  us  and 
after  spending  a  day  with  us  he  returned  to  the  Village  for  the  feast  of 


4.6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

St.  Xevier.  On  that  day  a  heavy  gale  Broke  up  a  portion  of  the  ice  and 
we  proceeded  about  a  League.  On  the  following  day  we  obtained  some 
wooden  Canoes  at  a  place  where  there  were  Five  Cabins  of  Savages  and 
after  Breaking  with  them  about  three  or  four  arpents  of  ice  that  barred 
the  River,  that  was  as  much  as  four  fingers  thick  and  could  bear  a  man's 
weight,  we  afterward  had  Free  navigation  to  the  Micissipi  which  we  reached 
on  the  5th  December  after  journeying  about  eighty  Leagues  from  the 
fort  of  Pemitewit.7 

'The  original  letter,  which  we  cease  at  this  point  to  copy,  continues  the  narration  of 
the  experiences  of  the  missionaries  in  their  descent  of  the  Mississippi  and  their  sojourn  on 
its  lower  course  until  the  close  of  the  year  1699. 


Part  II 
A  Military  Outpost 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 
PART  II 

CENTURY  passed  after  the  visit  of  the  Seminary 
priests  and  Chicago  was  still  but  a  geographical 
point  on  the  map,  the  surrounding  region  still 
basking  in  barbarism.  To  all  outward  seeming  the 
century  that  had  elapsed  had  brought  no  change 
to  Chicago.  In  place  of  the  rude  habitation  of 
the  missionary  stood  the  hut,  equally  rude,  of  the 
trader.  Past  the  restraining  sand  bank  which 
sought  to  bar  its  course  the  river  still  slipped  furtively  into  the  Lake, 
while  aside  from  the  lonely  hut  of  the  trader  only  the  Indian  tepee  gave 
sign  of  human  occupancy  of  the  wilderness  which  stretched  away  to  meet 
the  horizon. 

Nevertheless  a  new. world  had  come  into  being,  and  the  changes 
that  had  been  wrought  were  about  to  find  visible  expression  at  Chicago. 
England  had  extended  her  dominion  over  Canada  and  westward  to  the 
Mississippi,  and  in  turn  her  thirteen  colonies  had  wrested  their  inde- 
pendence from  her,  winning  therewith  the  same  Mississippi  boundary 
on  the  west.  Next  the  supremacy  of  the  red  men  over  the  Northwest 
was  challenged  and  shattered,  and  now,  in  the  opening  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  Spanish  Louisiana,  the  western  half  of  La  Salle's  imperial 
province,  passed  into  the  control  of  the  United  States.  It  was  now 
imperative  that  a  more  effective  control  over  the  region  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi,  and  a  line  of  communication  between 
the  existing  American  outposts  on  the  Lakes  and  the  newly  acquired 
Mississippi  settlements,  be  established.  Chicago,  lying  at  the  foot  of 
Lake  Michigan  and  at  the  head  of  the  Illinois  River  highway  to  the 
Mississippi,  was  obviously  the  logical  place  for  this  new  establishment. 
So,  in  the  summer  of  1803,  a  youth  of  twenty-one,  commissioned 
by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  led  a  company  of  soldiers  from 
Detroit  over  the  old  trail,  which  had  been  the  highway  from  time  im- 


fo  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

memorial  of  red-skin  war  parties,  to  Chicago,  and  the  erection  of  Fort 
Dearborn  was  begun.  Thereafter  for  nine  years  the  stars  and  stripes 
floated  from  the  whitewashed  walls  of  the  stockade  fort  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Chicago  River.  Around  it  a  tiny  settlement,  composed  of  the 
civilian  officers  of  the  Indian  agency,  army  contractors,  traders  and 
discharged  soldiers,  and  the  inevitable  accompaniment  of  half-breeds, 
slowly  developed.  It  was  but  an  insignificant  island  of  civilization  in 
the  midst  of  a  sea  of  barbarism,  where  for  the  most  part  life  moved  in 
humdrum  fashion,  until  another  change  in  the  great  outside  world 
registered  its  visible  effect  at  Chicago.  Because  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
would  rule  supreme  in  Europe  women  and  children  must  be  slaughtered  and 
men  be  burned  at  the  stake  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  A 
few  minutes  of  sharp  fighting  sufficed  to  register  the  triumph  of  the  red 
man,  and  almost  nine  years  to  a  day  after  the  coming  of  the  garrison  in 
August,  1803,  military  post  and  infant  settlement  were  alike  blotted  out. 

Four  more  years  pass,  the  Napoleonic  drama  has  run  its  course  and 
the  Man  of  Destiny  is  dragging  out  the  useless  remnant  of  his  life  on  the 
lonely  rock  of  St.  Helena.  Hardly  had  the  War  of  1812  been  concluded 
when  the  American  government  laid  its  plans  for  a  new  military  estab- 
lishment at  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River.  Again  a  force  of  soldiers 
was  sent  out  from  Detroit,  this  time  by  boat  around  the  lakes,  and  on  the 
nation's  natal  day  in  the  year  1816  the  stars  and  stripes  floated  once 
more  over  Chicago.  Life  here  during  the  next  seven  years  reproduced 
in  all  essential  respects  the  Fort  Dearborn  of  1803  to  1812.  The  one 
important  difference  again  had  to  do  with  the  outside  world  rather  than 
with  Chicago  itself.  Settlement  was  pressing  ever  westward,  the  red 
man  was  receding  before  it,  and  the  time  was  close  at  hand  when  the 
forces  of  civilization  were  to  enter  into  possession  of  the  surrounding 
region  and  give  birth  to  the  modern  Chicago.  With  this  event,  of 
course,  the  military  outpost  ceased  to  be. 

Such,  therefore,  is  the  significance  of  the  thirty-year  period  begin- 
ning with  the  year  1803,  which  the  selections  that  follow  have  been 
chosen  to  illuminate.  The  first  (Wm.  Johnston's  "Notes  of  a  Tour 
from  Fort  Wayne  to  Chicago")  affords  an  excellent  description  of  the 
trail  which  during  the  life  of  the  first  Fort  Dearborn  bound  Chicago 
most  closely  to  the  outside  world.  Fort  Wayne,  it  is  true,  was,  like 
Chicago,  a  mere  wilderness  outpost,  but  such  as  it  was  it  constituted  the 
center  of  civilization  nearest  to  the  latter  place.  We  take  the  journal 
from  a  hitherto-unpublished  manuscript  in  the  Chicago  Historical 
Library,  to  which  it  was  presented  in  1894.  Of  its  antecedents  the 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  51 

donor  could  only  say  that  he  had  found  it  among  some  old  documents 
received  from  his  father  many  years  earlier.  Although  yellowed  as  if 
from  age  it  is  obvious  that  the  manuscript  is  itself  a  copy  of  the  original 
journal.  Of  its  history,  as  of  its  author,  nothing  has  been  learned. 

The  next  two  documents  (the  narratives  of  James  Grant  Wilson 
and  Jacob  B.  Varnum)  present  intimate  pictures  of  life  at  Fort  Dearborn 
extending  over  a  period  of  years — the  first  from  1 803  to  1812,  the  second 
from  1816  to  1822.  They  possess  the  further  similarity  that  one  was 
written  almost  half  a  century  and  the  other  twice  as  long,  after  the 
occurrence  of  the  events  described.  The  other  selections,  with  one 
exception  strictly  contemporary,  describe  each  a  particular  visit  to 
Chicago,  dealing  chiefly  with  the  surrounding  region  and  the  experiences 
and  observations  of  the  travelers  on  their  tours. 

General  James  Grant  Wilson,  the  author  of  "Chicago  from  1803  to 
1812,"  himself  relates  the  circumstances  under  which  he  acquired  the 
information  contained  in  it.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  mature 
lives  of  Wilson  and  his  informant,  Doctor  Cooper,  spanned  a  period  of 
over  a  century,  and  that  until  the  year  1914  there  was  living  in  New  York 
City  a  veteran  editor,  author,  and  historian  whose  mind  was  steeped 
with  the  narrations  of  a  contemporary  concerning  the  Fort  Dearborn 
life  of  1808  to  181 1.  It  is  inevitable  that  such  an  account  should  contain 
some  errors;  yet  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  another  narrative  written 
down  so  long  a  time  after  the  occurrence  of  the  events  described  and 
possessed  of  equal  merit.  The  original  manuscript  is  the  property  of 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society  to  which  acknowledgment  is  due  for 
permission  here  to  give  it  its  first  publication. 

Jacob  Butler  Varnum,  author  of  the  journal  of  life  at  the  second 
Fort  Dearborn,  came  of  an  old  and  distinguished  New  England  family. 
His  father,  Joseph  B.  Varnum,  enjoyed  many  honors,  both  civil  and 
military.  The  last  forty  years  of  his  life  were  spent  continuously  in 
the  public  service  in  the  legislatures  of  his  state  and  nation.  He  served 
in  the  lower  house  of  Congress  sixteen  years,  being  speaker  from  1807 
to  1811;  and  in  the  United  States  Senate  from  1811  to  1817.  Through 
the  family  influence  the  son  obtained,  in  1811,  an  appointment  as  factor 
at  Sandusky,  Ohio.  Bereft  of  this  position  the  next  year,  when  the  San- 
dusky  factory  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British  and  Indians,  Varnum 
entered  the  army  as  a  captain  in  the  Fortieth  United  States  Infantry 
and  served  until  the  end  of  the  war.  Upon  the  reduction  of  the  army 
at  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  discharged  from  the  service,  soon  after 
which  he  applied  for  another  position  in  the  Indian  department.  The 
section  of  his  autobiography  which  we  print  takes  up  the  story  of  his 


52  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

life  at  this  point  and  carries  it  forward  until  the  termination  of  his 
service  at  Fort  Dearborn  in  1822. 

After  several  years  of  mercantile  business  in  Washington  Varnum 
removed  to  Petersburg,  Virginia,  where  he  resided  until  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War.  He  was  present,  an  aged  and  helpless  noncombatant, 
during  the  famous  siege,  and  to  this  event  we  owe  the  writing  of  his 
autobiography.  For  this  incidental  by-product  of  our  great  domestic 
conflict  all  who  are  interested  in  the  annals  of  Chicago  may  well  feel 
grateful.  "Confined  a  large  portion  of  my  time  to  my  room  by  indis- 
position and  the  infirmities  incident  to  age,  and  subjected  to  the  calam- 
ities of  cruel  war,  to  immense  armies  in  our  immediate  vicinity  with  all 
the  murderous  implements  of  warfare  incessantly  contending  in  deadly 
strife;  our  enemies  in  full  view  with  their  siege  guns  in  range  and  con- 
stantly vomiting  forth  their  destructible  missiles  at  our  devoted  town 
and  most  of  our  population  disposed  through  the  neighboring  country" — 
under  such  circumstances  the  narrative  was  drawn  up,  in  part  for  the 
edification  of  his  son  but  chiefly  as  an  aid  to  beguiling  the  tedium  of  his 
situation.  It  is,  therefore,  not  a  journal  of  contemporary  events;  on 
the  other  hand  it  is  not  merely  the  narration  of  an  old  man's  reminis- 
cences, for  the  author  distinctly  states  that  the  idea  of  writing  it  came 
to  him  while  engaged  in  overhauling  his  papers  "of  more  than  fifty 
years'  accumulation"  and  that  he  intends  it  shall  be  reliable  "both  as 
to  accuracy  and  as  to  dates."  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  while  the 
narrative  itself  dates  from  1864,  its  author  wrote  with  the  sources  of 
information  on  which  it  is  based  before  him.  The  original  manuscript 
not  being  available,  for  the  purpose  of  publication  resort  has  been  had 
to  a  typewritten  copy  furnished  long  since  to  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society  by  John  M.  Varnum,  compiler  of  the  family  genealogy. 

Of  Samuel  A.  Storrow,  author  of  a  narrative  descriptive  of  a  tour 
of  the  Northwest  made  in  1817,  nothing  has  been  learned,  aside  from 
his  brief  army  record.  He  entered  the  service  as  judge  advocate  in 
July,  1816,  and  was  honorably  discharged  five  years  later.  The  nar- 
rative we  print  is  taken  from  a  rare  pamphlet  in  the  Wisconsin  Historical 
Library.  From  Detroit  Storrow  proceeded  around  the  lakes,  stopping 
en  route  at  Fort  Gratiot  and  Mackinac,  to  Green  Bay.  From  Mackinac 
to  Green  Bay  the  journey  was  made  in  an  open  rowboat  propelled  by  a 
few  soldiers  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  Pierce,  brother  of  a  future  president 
of  the  United  States.  The  account  of  the  overland  trip  from  Green  Bay 
to  Chicago  and  thence  on  to  Fort  Wayne  is  reprinted  in  the  accompany- 
ing selection.  From  Fort  Wayne  Storrow  made  his  way  down  the 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  53 

Maumee  to  Detroit.     Here  he  crossed  the  river  and,  traversing  Upper 
Canada,  concluded  his  tour  at  Brownsville,  New  York. 

The  journal  was  originally  published  under  the  guise  of  a  report 
to  General  Brown,  dated  December  i,  1817.  The  pamphlet  has  no  title- 
page  or  title.  It  has  been  once  reprinted  entire  in  volume  VI  of  the 
Wisconsin  Historical  Collections. 

A  few  weeks  before  Storrow  was  received  at  Fort  Dearborn  "as 
one  arrived  from  the  moon"  there  had  come  to  Chicago  by  sailing  vessel 
from  Mackinac  a  child  of  seven  years  who  has  left  us  the  succeeding 
narrative  of  her  visit.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Therese  Baird  was  born  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  in  1810,  but  was  taken  by  her  parents  to  Mackinac 
upon  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  there  grew  to  womanhood. 
In  1824  she  went,  a  bride  of  fourteen  summers,  to  Green  Bay  and  there 
resided  until  her  death  in  1890.  A  few  years  before  her  death  a  number 
of  reminiscent  articles  were  written  by  her  for  publication  in  the  Green 
Bay  State  Gazette.  Afterward  these  were  republished,  in  somewhat 
different  form,  in  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  from  volume  XIV 
of  which  we  extract  the  narrative  of  her  Chicago  visit.  It  is  evident 
that  Mrs.  Baird  has  mistaken  by  one  year  the  date  of  her  trip,  since  the 
garrison  which  built  the  second  Fort  Dearborn  came  to  Chicago  in 
July,  1816,  and  Mary  Ann  Aiken,  wife  of  Jacob  B.  Varnum,  of  whom  she 
speaks,  died  there  a  year  later. 

The  increasing  desire  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  know  more  of  the 
nation's  far-western  possessions  is  responsible  for  the  two  narratives 
which  conclude  this  section  of  the  volume.  Both  are  taken  from  what 
may  properly  be  regarded  as  official  reports  of  national  exploring  expedi- 
tions. In  the  summer  of  1820  Lewis  Cass,  the  enterprising  governor  of 
Michigan  Territory,  set  out  from  Detroit  with  a  well-equipped  expedi- 
tion, traveling  in  open  canoes,  to  seek  the  source  of  the  Mississippi 
River.  The  return  journey  was  made  down  the  Mississippi  to  Prairie 
du  Chien;  thence  by  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox  Rivers  to  Green  Bay  and 
down  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Chicago.  From  Chicago 
Governor  Cass  made  his  way  home  on  horseback  along  the  Chicago- 
Detroit  trail,  while  Schoolcraft,  the  historian  of  the  expedition,  continued 
the  canoe  journey  around  the  eastern  side  of  Lake  Michigan  to  Mackinac 
and  thence  to  Detroit.  We  publish  the  portion  of  this  journal  describing 
the  trip  from  Green  Bay  to  Chicago,  and  around  the  southern  end  of 
the  Lake  as  far  as  Galien  River. 

Three  years  later  Major  Stephen  H.  Long,  who  had  already  won 
fame  as  an  explorer  by  conducting  an  expedition  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, was  sent  to  explore  the  St.  Peter's  River  to  its  source.  Coming 


54  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  Wheeling  on  the  Ohio,  Long's  party  crossed 
the  states  of  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  Chicago;  then  across  northern  Illinois 
to  Prairie  du  Chien  and  up  the  Mississippi  to  Fort  Snelling.  From  this 
point  the  explorers  ascended  the  St.  Peter's  and  descended  Red  River 
to  Lake  Winnipeg.  The  return  route  led  them  along  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  United  States  to  Lake  Superior  and  thence  around  the 
lakes  to  the  East.  The  report  of  this  extensive  tour  was  prepared  by 
William  H.  Keating,  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and 
one  of  the  scientists  of  the  expedition.  We  extract  the  portion  dealing 
with  the  trip  from  Fort  Wayne  to  Chicago. 

The  reports  of  these  two  important  exploring  expeditions,  under- 
taken within  a  few  years  of  each  other,  shed  a  flood  of  light  upon  a  portion 
of  the  Northwest  which  while  long  familiar  to  the  trader  and  trapper 
was  an  unknown  region  to  everyone  else,  including  even  the  departments 
of  government  at  Washington.  Interesting  light  on  this  point  is  afford- 
ed by  the  fact  that  although  composed  of  seasoned  explorers,  and 
equipped  with  all  the  information  and  resources  at  the  command  of 
the  government,  Long's  party  would  not  venture  to  undertake  the 
overland  trip  from  Chicago  to  Prairie  du  Chien  until,  by  dint  of  effort, 
a  guide  was  found  to  conduct  them.  Schoolcraft  and  Keating  picture 
clearly  the  state  of  Chicago  and  the  surrounding  region  almost  at  the 
close  of  the  frontier  period  of  their  history.  The  period  of  travel  by 
canoe  and  horseback  was  about  to  give  place  to  the  era  of  transporta- 
tion by  steam,  and  therewith  the  northwestern  wilderness  was  to  be 
converted  into  an  abode  of  civilization. 


WILLIAM  JOHNSTON'S  TOUR  FROM  FORT 
WAYNE  TO  CHICAGO,  1809 


(HE  general  course  of  the  road  is  something  North  of  West. 
For  about  three  miles  the  land  is  thin  oak  land  to  Spy  river, 
when  immediately  on  crossing  Spy  river,  a  fine  bottom  com- 
i  mencing  which  continues  for  some  distance.  The  timber  is 
generally  sugar  tree  hickory  &  buckeye  [horse  chestnut]  all  of  very 
large  growth. 

Twelve  miles  further  is  Eel  river,  a  branch  of  the  Wabash.  This 
little  stream  is  very  deep,  and  at  the  distance  of  ten  miles  on  a  straight 
line  from  its  source  and  about  seventeen  by  the  meanders  of  the  Stream, 
it  is  not  more  than  five  yards  wide  and  is  generally  three  feet  deep  with  a 
very  slow  current.  The  land  on  this  river  is  very  rich,  and  appears  to  be 
well  adapted  to  the  culture  of  wheat  or  hemp.  There  are  but  few  mill 
seats  in  this  country,  on  account  of  the  land  being  very  level.  All  the 
rivers  in  this  country  have  their  sources  in  Swamps  &  ponds  as  there 
are  but  few  Springs  in  the  upper  country — that  is,  on  the  high  land  that 
divides  the  waters  of  the  lakes  from  the  waters  of  the  Ohio. 

Passing  on  westward  you  travel  through  a  fine  rich  level  country; 
tho'  it  appears  as  if  it  had  been  under  water  at  some  former  period. 

Fifteen  miles  from  Eel  river  you  come  to  the  little  lakes.  Here  is 
one  of  the  most  enchanting  prospects  my  eyes  ever  beheld.  The  traveller, 
after  passing  through  a  country  somewhat  broken  for  a  few  miles  is 
immediately  struck  with  the  sight  of  two  beautiful  sheets  of  water,  as 
clear  &  as  pure  as  any  spring  water.  They  are  about  one  fourth  of  a 
mile  apart.  I  encamped  on  the  border  of  the  most  westerly  one  all  night. 
The  border  is  so  low  that  a  large  wave  might  roll  out  on  the  bushes.  I 
perceived  a  number  of  fishes  playing  in  the  water  near  the  shore  where  it 
was  not  a  foot  deep.  I  took  my  pistols  and  went  in  ten  or  fifteen  yards 
and  shot  several  ringeyed  perch.  Indeed  they  were  so  tame  that  they 
came  close  to  me,  as  if  wondering  at  the  new  monster  that  had  got 
amongst  them.  This  lake  covers  about  100  acres  and  has  an  outlet  at 
the  east  end  of  it.  From  thence  it  runs  about  half  a  mile  along  the  side 
of  a  small  ridge  that  divides  it  from  the  other  lake.  It  then  turns 


56  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

suddenly  round  to  N  E  and  passes  through  a  break  in  the  ridge  and 
empties  itself  into  the  other  lake.  There  is  a  good  mill  seat  here  with 
three  or  four  feet  fall,  and  water  sufficient  for  ten  mills  abreast. 

The  soil  in  the  neighbourhood  of  these  lakes  is  well  calculated  for 
wheat  or  any  kind  of  small  grain.  The  timber  is  chiefly  white  oak, 
Spanish  Oak  and  some  chestnut  oak.  The  land  is  a  mixture  of  sand  & 
clay,  and  in  some  places  a  deep  black  soil,  something  like  river  bottom. 

Eighteen  miles  further  you  come  to  the  Elkshart  river,  a  branch  of 
the  S*  Josephs  of  Michigan.  For  eight  miles  before  you  come  to  this 
river  you  come  to  a  thicket  of  young  hickories  and  oaks,  about  as  thick 
as  a  mans  thumb,  and  growing  so  close  together  that  it  is  impossible  to 
penetrate  it  at  any  other  place  than  by  the  road.  This  land  is  as  rich 
as  any  in  Kentucky,  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  it  would  be  as  fruitful 
if  cultivated. 

Immediately  on  crossing  the  river,  which  is  here  about  fifty  yards 
wide,  a  most  delightful  prospect  is  presented  to  view.  There  is  scarcely 
a  tree  in  an  acre  of  ground  for  three  miles.  Here  is  an  Indian  village  of 
about  twenty  houses.  One  of  the  principal  chiefs  resides  here — his  name 
is  "Five  Medals."1  The  village  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  edge  of  a 
fine  prairie  containing  about  three  thousand  acres.  About  a  mile  west 
of  this  prairie  the  road  comes  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  at  a  good  spring  of 
water  (a  thing  that  is  very  scarce  in  this  country).  Here  the  timber  is 
tall  and  thick  on  the  ground  principally  white  oak — the  soil  is  a  white 
clay. 

Fourteen  miles  further  is  the  junction  of  the  Elkshart  &  the  Sl 
Josephs.  Here  is  a  place  formed  by  nature  for  a  town.2  One  half  mile 
from  the  forks  the  rivers  come  within  sixty  yards  of  each  other.  They 
then  seperate  and  form  something  like  an  oval  piece  of  ground  of  about 
one  hundred  acres  until  it  comes  to  low  bottom  that  appears  to  be  made 
ground.  This  bottom  contains  about  fifty  acres,  and  I  suppose  is  over- 
flowed at  high  water.  Both  these  streams  are  navigable,  without  any 
falls  or  other  obstruction,  almost  to  their  sources.  From  the  forks  down 
to  the  lake,  about  Sixty  miles  by  water,  may  be  navigated  by  any  kind 
of  small  craft  at  any  season.  The  channel  is  deep  &  the  current  gentle. 

There  is  no  Situation  in  this  country  better  calculated  for  trade  than 
at  the  forks  of  S'  Josephs  &  Elkshart.  These  two  branches  flow  through 
the  richest  and  dryest  part  of  this  country;  and  I  think  it  would  be  an 
object  with  our  government  to  make  a  settlement  at  this  place. 

!This  village  was  burned  by  an  American  army  under  Colonel  Wells,  following  the 
siege  of  Fort  Wayne  in  the  autumn  of  1812.  A  soldier's  diary  of  this  campaign  is  published 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review,  I,  272-78. 

*  The  city  of  Elkhart  has  since  grown  up  on  this  site. 


WILLIAM  JOHNSTON'S  TOUR  57 

Ten  miles  down  this  river  from  the  forks  is  a  portage  of  three  miles 
west  to  the  Theakiki,  a  branch  of  the  Illinois  river.  Fifteen  miles  below 
the  forks  is  a  French  trading  house.8  There  are  about  twenty  persons 
kept  here  for  the  purpose  of  trading  with  the  Indians.  These  men  in 
the  winter  take  each  a  load  of  goods  and  ascend  one  of  the  branches  of 
the  S'  Josephs;  thence  across  the  portages  into  the  other  river,  and  to 
the  Indian  villages,  where  they  continue  until  spring,  from  whence  they 
return  with  their  peltry.  They  all  collect  in  May  and  make  up  their 
packs  when  they  proceed  down  the  river  into  Lake  Michigan  &  round  to 
Michillimakinac.  It  will  scarce  be  believed  that  these  men  perform  a 
voyage  of  upwards  of  a  thousand  miles  in  a  bark  canoe  heavily  laden 
with  packs,  the  greater  part  of  the  voyage  in  a  boisterous  lake. 

The  soil  on  this  river  varies,  but  none  but  what  is  equal  to  our  third 
rate  in  Kentucky,  and  has  the  advantage  of  being  level.  There  are 
several  fine  Springs  in  this  part  of  the  country. 

At  the  factory  I  was  told  that  there  was  the  remains  of  a  British 
fort4  three  miles  below,  where  was  a  fine  orchard  of  apple  trees.  Twenty 
miles  from  the  fort  to  the  mouth  of  the  river. — Here  I  was  informed 
that  a  trader  had  raised  several  crops  of  wheat,  and  that  it  was  as  good 
as  could  be  raised  any  place.  I  crossed  the  S'  Josephs  at  the  French 
factory.  Twelve  miles  further  is  an  Indian  village  called  Turcope 
[Terre  Coupe].  The  town  Stands  on  an  eminence,  and  may  be  seen 
about  seven  miles.  There  is  not  a  tree  to  interrupt  the  view  for  about 
nine  miles.  This  prairie  I  was  told  extends  to  the  Mississippi,  a  distance 
of  four  hundred  miles!  From  this  village  to  Lake  Michigan,  a  distance  of 
about  forty  miles,  the  land  is  about  one  half  timbered,  and  the  other 
half  prairie,  but  all  of  a  good  quality,  except  about  four  miles  adjoining 
the  lake,  where  it  is  very  Sandy.  Here  are  some  of  the  finest  white  pine 
trees  I  have  ever  seen.  The  road  strikes  the  lake  at  the  most  Southerly 
end,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  du  Sma  [Du  Chemin]. 

3  This  was  at   Pare  Vache  (The  Cowpens),  where  the  Chicago-Detroit  and  Chicago. 
Fort  Wayne  trails  forked.     Because  of  this  and  of  its  proximity  to  the  St.  Joseph  Portage  to  the 
Illinois,  the  spot  was  early  recognized  by  the  French  as  one  of  the  strategic  points  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  continent.     In  this  vicinity  the  Jesuit  missionary,  Allouez,  died  in  1689.     From 
here  John  Kinzie  removed  to  Chicago  in  1804.     With  the  coming  of  white  settlement  the 
town  of  Bertrand,  named  for  a  family  of  French  traders  grew  up,  and  for  a  time  had  dreams 
of  becoming  a  metropolis.     These  were  shattered  by  the  too  vigorous  competition  of  Niles 
on  one  side  and  South  Bend  on  the  other.     Bertrand  today  is  a  decayed  hamlet  of  perhaps 
a  dozen  houses,  its  two  most  interesting  features,  aside  from  its  historical  associations,  being 
the  old  Catholic  burying  ground  and  decaying  church,  where  according  to  local  tradition 
ghosts  are  wont  to  revel,  and  the  beautiful  St.  Joseph  close  at  hand.     In  the  distance  may 
be  seen,  on  a  sunny  day,  the  golden  dome  of  Notre  Dame  University  at  South  Bend,  visible 
descendant  of  Father  Allouez's  mission  to  the  Miami. 

4  Fort  St.  Joseph,  destroyed  by  the  Indians  in  Pontiac's  War  of  1763,  and  captured, 
having  been  reestablished,  by  the  Spaniards  in  1781. 


58  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

The  country  from  Fort  Wayne  to  Lake  Michigan  is  I  think  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  the  United  States  to  have  it  settled.  It  may 
be  said  that  about  one  half  of  the  unceded  lands  of  the  Indians  lying 
north  of  the  present  boundary  in  Illinois  &  Indiana  West  of  the  Wabash 
&  Miami  of  the  lake  &  East  of  Illinois  &  Chicago  rivers,  and  including 
Michigan  Territory,  is  rich  and  level.  The  other  half  may  be  divided 
between  the  Swamps  ponds  or  lakes  and  prairies,  the  latter  of  which 
are  by  far  the  most  extensive  and  would  support  immense  herds  of  cattle 
at  very  little  cost;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  salt  can  be  got  cheaper  at  Detroit 
than  it  can  in  Lexington  in  Kentucky. 

The  East*  end  of  Lake  Michigan  is  bounded  by  a  mountain  [ridge] 
of  sand  about  100  feet  high.  This  hill  has  been  accumulating  since  the 
formation  of  the  lake.  The  lake  is  about  three  hundred  miles  long  from 
north  to  south,  and  about  sixty  miles  wide  from  East  to  west.  The 
North  west  wind  prevails  here  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  This  wind 
blowing  over  an  extensive  level  country,  acquires  such  force  when  it 
arrives  at  lake  Michigan,  that  in  a  dry  day  it  will  raise  as  much  sand 
as  darkens  the  air,  which  in  time  raised  up  a  bank,  and  every  storm  adding 
more  to  it  till  the  present.  This  ridge  is  covered  with  Stunted  cedars 
and  junipers.  I  think  there  could  be  as  much  junipers  gathered  here  as 
would  supply  the  United  States  with  that  article.  The  wind  is  always 
changing  the  position  of  this  ridge.  A  strong  wind  will  make  a  breach 
in  the  top;  the  wind  will  then  deepen  the  breach,  and  the  sand  is  carried 
back  and  deposited  in  the  valley  [plain]  behind  the  hill  which  in  time 
becomes  the  foundation  of  another  mountain.  The  traveller  may  see 
hundreds  of  these  hills  behind  the  mountain.  The  whole  body  of  the 
mountain  is  carried  away  in  some  places  for  several  hundred  yards,  and 
deposited  behind.  The  wind  is  constantly  in  motion,  taking  more  & 
more  until  the  whole  hill  will  change  its  place.  The  lake  of  course  will 
advance  as  the  bank  recedes;  and  there  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  the 
water  has  [thus]  gained  considerably  on  the  land. 

This  mountain  [ridge]  is  not  to  be  found  on  the  west  side  of  the  lake. 

Ten  miles  along  the  bank  of  the  lake  is  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Styx  so  called  on  account  of  a  large  Indian  burying  ground  near  it. 
Some  of  the  corps[es]  were  in  troughs  raised  up  on  forks  ten  feet  high; 
others  again  are  folded  up  in  bark  and  laid  on  the  ground,  with  some 
sticks  over  them.  There  were  at  the  head  and  foot  of  every  grave  a 
post  set  up  on  which  were  a  number  of  marks  thus:  (XXX),  which  I 
was  told  designated  the  number  of  persons  they  had  killed  in  war.  A 
Single  line  thus:  (I)  was  the  mark  of  prisoners  they  had  taken. 

*  Mr.  Johnston  probably  means  the  South  end  of  the  lake.     [Copyist's  note.] 


WILLIAM  JOHNSTON'S  TOUR  59 

The  road  still  keeps  the  shore  of  the  lake.  Twelve  miles  further 
is  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Calumet.  Here  the  sand  mountain  ends. 
Twenty  miles  further  is  the  mouth  of  the  little  Calumet.  These  two 
rivers  are  of  the  greatest  consequence  to  the  traders  on  the  lake.  They 
are  both  about  twenty  yards  wide  at  their  mouth,  but  very  deep.  One 
of  them  is  considerably  longer  than  the  other;  &  there  is  a  communica- 
tion between  them,  which  in  case  of  storm  on  the  lake  the  trader  can  go 
up  one  several  miles,  then  across  into  the  other,  and  down  it  into  the  lake. 
It  is  twelve  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  little  Calumet  to  the  mouth  of 
Chicago  river.  Here  the  United  States  have  erected  a  garrison  [Fort 
Dearborn]  for  the  protection  of  the  trade  in  this  quarter  of  the  country. 
This  garrison  does  great  honor  to  Capt.  John  Whistler  who  planned  & 
built  it.  It  is  the  neatest  and  best  wooden  garrison  in  the  United  States. 
This  place  guards  the  entrance  of  Chicago  river. 

Between  the  Chicago  and  the  Illinois  rivers,  there  is  a  direct  water 
communication.  The  river  Plein,  which  is  one  of  the  main  forks  of  the 
Illinois,  has  its  source  near  the  bank  of  the  lake,  and  nine  miles  from  fort 
Dearborn  it  turns  West.  At  this  bend  there  is  a  long  pond  communi- 
cates with  it,  which  runs  Eastwardly  towards  the  lake  and  terminates 
in  a  small  creek  which  runs  into  the  Chicago  river.  This  creek  is  about 
two  miles  long;  and  in  the  Spring  of  the  year  any  kind  of  Craft  may  sail 
out  of  the  lake  to  the  Mississippi  without  being  unladen.  The  U.  S.  factor 
at  fort  Dearborn  measured  the  elevation  of  land  between  the  lake  and 
the  river  Plein,  and  found  it  to  be  four  feet  on  the  side  of  the  lake  and 
five  on  the  side  of  the  Illinois.  Thus  by  digging  a  canal  of  nine*  feet 
deep,  a  passage  could  be  got  at  any  season  in  the  year  from  the  Falls  of 
Niagara  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  without  a  Single  foot  of  land 
carriage.  The  Canal  would  be  about  six  miles  long,  through  a  beautiful 
prairie;  and  there  is  a  quarry  of  limestone  near  this  place  which  would 
make  excellent  casing  for  the  Canal. 

While  at  Fort  Dearborn  I  was  informed  that  there  were  some  boats 
at  the  portage  which  would  cross  the  next  day.  I  accordingly  went,  in 
company  with  Mr  Varnum  &  Capt.  Whistlers  son,  to  the  portage. 
The  water  was  low,  it  being  about  the  28th  of  June.  The  boats  could 
not  pass  loaded;  but  I  saw  them  sail  out  of  the  river  Plein  into  the  pond, 
&  through  it  into  the  creek  before  mentioned,  and  down  it  into  the 
Chicago  river.  The  loads  were  brought  over  the  portage  in  waggons; 
&  they  were  re-loaded  [into  the  boats]  at  the  head  of  the  Chicago. 

*I  do  not  understand  this — why  an  elevation  of  4  feet  on  one  side  &  5  on  the  other 
should  be  added  together.  Does  he  not  include  in  this,  4  feet  for  necessary  depth  of  channel. 
(Copyist's  note.) 


6o  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

There  is  a  custom  house  kept  at  Fort  Dearborn,  where  all  traders 
are  obliged  to  make  an  entry  of  their  goods. 

The  Public  officers  are  Major  Charles  Jewet  [Jouett],  agent  for 
Indian  affairs;  Mr  George  [Joseph]  B.  Varnum,  factor  &  Commissary; 
Capt.  John  Whistler  commandant;  Lieut"  Hamilton  &  Thompson. 
There  are  about  sixty  soldiers  in  garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn;  and  so 
healthy  has  the  place  been  that  Capt.  Whistler  informed  me  he  had  lost 
but  six  men  in  nearly  eight  years,  and  he  has  the  same  men  now  that  he 
had  when  he  built  the  garrison;  and  although  their  term  of  enlistment 
expired  yet  they  all  enlisted  again — a  sure  sign  that  he  is  a  good  officer. 

Fort  Dearborn  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  lake.  It 
is  bounded  on  the  land  side  by  an  extensive  prairie,  interspersed  with 
groves  of  trees,  which  gives  it  a  beautiful  appearance. 

Lake  Michigan  abounds  with  fish  of  an  excellent  quality.  The 
white  fish  is  caught  here  in  great  plenty.  This  is  probably  the  best 
fresh  water  fish  in  the  waters  of  the  U.  S.  The  surge  of  the  lake  beating 
always  against  the  Shore,  frequently  throws  out  large  fish  on  the  Land. 
I  took  up  several  perch  &  pickeral,  that  would  weigh  ten  pounds,  some 
of  them  alive.  The  shore  is  frequented  by  flocks  of  crows,  buzzards, 
gulls  &c  which  soon  destroy  the  fish  that  is  thrown  out  on  the  shore. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


•'  4"*1  '•*  /^^ 


/-  *i  '   -v  Jrt,,  ..^  ., 
^      .«. 


'          7  f^> 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812 

N  early  life,  the  writer1  was  well  acquainted  with  a  vener- 
able man  who  spent  several  years  at  Fort  Dearborn  during 
the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  having  been 
jSJ^S^i  appointed  surgeon  of  that  frontier  post  by  his  friend  Gen 
Henry  Dearborn,  then  Secretary  of  War,  in  Thomas  Jefferson's  Second 
administration.  With  him  I  had  many  conversations  concerning  the 
early  days  of  Chicago  and  the  Northwest.  Later  when  I  contemplated 
preparing  a  history  of  the  Western  Metropolis,  I  naturally  listened  with 
increased  interest  to  the  reminiscences  of  almost  the  only  survivor 
among  those  whose  memories  extended  back  to  Chicago's  Earliest 
decade.  Various  circumstances  conflicted  with  the  carrying  out  of  the 
historical  project  after  the  Civil  War,  chief  among  which  was  the  writer's 
return  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided.  Most 
fortunately  some  memoranda  of  my  medical  friend's  later  conversations 
were  preserved,  and  chiefly  from  those  notes,  the  following  pages  have 
been  prepared  more  than  two  score  years  after  the  venerable  physician 
and  pioneer  passed  away  at  Poughkeepsie  on  the  Hudson,  his  home  for 
half  a  century. 

Dr  John  Cooper's  grandfather,  who  was  an  Englishman,  accom- 
panied the  British  army  to  Quebec,  where  he  fought  under  General  Wolfe, 
and  was  near  the  hero  when  he  fell  in  the  hour  of  victory.  He  did  not 
return  to  his  native  land,  but  left  the  Service,  and  settled  as  a  farmer  in 
Ulster  County,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The  grandson  was  born  at 
Fishkill,  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Duchess,  June  6,  1786,  studied  med- 
icine, and  entered  the  United  States  army  as  a  surgeon  June  13,  1808, 
almost  immediately  receiving  orders  to  proceed  to  Fort  Dearborn. 
From  Washington  he  went  by  way  of  New  York  and  Albany  early  in 
July  to  Buffalo,  where  he  boarded  the  United  States  brig  "Adams", 
commanded  by  Commodore  Henry  Brevoort.  The  voyage  across  Lake 


, 

1  James  Grant  Wilsoh  came  to  Chicago  in  fsSTat  tfie  age  of  twenty-five  to 
Chicago  Magatine,  "the  first  literary  pa^pobHstehto^te  d^eotH»e*l,no  IpsM 
the  army,  attaining,  before  the  close  of  the  war,  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  Until  his 
death  in  1914  he  resided  in  New  York  City,  engaged  in  literary  activities,  being  an  industrious 
and  well-known  editor  and  author. 


FACSIMILE  OF  WILLIAM  SHENSTONE'S  POEMS 

(By  courtesy  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society.) 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812 

?N  early  life,  the  writer1  was  well  acquainted  with  a  vener- 
able man  who  spent  several  years  at  Fort  Dearborn  during 
the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  having  been 
%$!&})  appointed  surgeon  of  that  frontier  post  by  his  friend  Gen 
Henry  Dearborn,  then  Secretary  of  War,  in  Thomas  Jefferson's  Second 
administration.  With  him  I  had  many  conversations  concerning  the 
early  days  of  Chicago  and  the  Northwest.  Later  when  I  contemplated 
preparing  a  history  of  the  Western  Metropolis,  I  naturally  listened  with 
increased  interest  to  the  reminiscences  of  almost  the  only  survivor 
among  those  whose  memories  extended  back  to  Chicago's  Earliest 
decade.  Various  circumstances  conflicted  with  the  carrying  out  of  the 
historical  project  after  the  Civil  War,  chief  among  which  was  the  writer's 
return  to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided.  Most 
fortunately  some  memoranda  of  my  medical  friend's  later  conversations 
were  preserved,  and  chiefly  from  those  notes,  the  following  pages  have 
been  prepared  more  than  two  score  years  after  the  venerable  physician 
and  pioneer  passed  away  at  Poughkeepsie  on  the  Hudson,  his  home  for 
half  a  century. 

Dr  John  Cooper's  grandfather,  who  was  an  Englishman,  accom- 
panied the  British  army  to  Quebec,  where  he  fought  under  General  Wolfe, 
and  was  near  the  hero  when  he  fell  in  the  hour  of  victory.  He  did  not 
return  to  his  native  land,  but  left  the  Service,  and  settled  as  a  farmer  in 
Ulster  County,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The  grandson  was  born  at 
Fishkill,  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Duchess,  June  6,  1786,  studied  med- 
icine, and  entered  the  United  States  army  as  a  surgeon  June  13,  1808, 
almost  immediately  receiving  orders  to  proceed  to  Fort  Dearborn. 
From  Washington  he  went  by  way  of  New  York  and  Albany  early  in 
July  to  Buffalo,  where  he  boarded  the  United  States  brig  "Adams", 
commanded  by  Commodore  Henry  Brevoort.  The  voyage  across  Lake 

1  James  Grant  Wilson  came  to  Chicago  in  1857  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  to  establish  the 
Chicago  Magazine,  "the  first  literary  paper  published  in  the  Northwest."  In  1862  he  entered 
the  army,  attaining,  before  the  close  of  the  war,  the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  Until  his 
death  in  1914  he  resided  in  New  York  City,  engaged  in  literary  activities,  being  an  industrious 
and  well-known  editor  and  author. 


62  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Erie  occupied  a  week,  another  week  was  spent  in  passing  through  the 
river  and  Lake  St  Clair  including  two  days  delay  at  Detroit,  and  arriving 
at  the  island  of  Mackinac.  The  brig  remained  there  Several  days, 
and  then  proceeded,  via  Green  Bay  to  Chicago,  which  voyage  occupied 
an  additional  three  days,  the  time  spent  by  Cooper  in  reaching  his  des- 
tination from  Washington,  being  a  greater  number  of  days,  than  would 
require  hours  at  the  present  period.  The  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn 
then  consisted  of  ninety-six  men  of  the  First  United  States  Infantry, 
Commanded  by  Captain  John  Whistler,  with  Lieutenant  Joseph  Ham- 
ilton of  Maryland  and  Robert  Thompson  of  New  York,  who  died  during 
Surgeon  Cooper's  term  of  service  at  the  post.  The  Fort  consisted  of 
four  log  houses  used  as  barracks,  and  two  block  houses,  one  containing 
two  guns,  the  other  one  cannon  with  several  hundred  stand  of  small 
arms,  the  whole  surrounded  by  a  palisade  some  twelve  feet  high,  sur- 
mounted by  Crow's  feet  of  iron.  The  officers  gardens,  in  which  large 
quantities  of  melons  and  other  small  fruit  and  vegetables  were  raised, 
extended  south  from  the  Fort.  At  a  short  distance  to  the  Southwest, 
were  two  log  houses,  one  occupied  by  Matthew  Irwin  the  United  States 
Factor  or  Contractor,  and  the  other  by  the  Indian  Agent  Charles  Jewitt 
[Jouett].  A  mile  or  more  to  the  Southwest  was  the  home  of  a  small 
farmer,  who  supplied  the  officers  with  butter  and  eggs.  At  the  fork 
of  the  Chicago  River,  there  was  a  house  belonging  to  a  man  named 
Clark,  who  was  a  cattle  dealer,  and  was  occasionally  employed  about  the 
Fort.  On  the  north  side  of  the  river  there  were  four  log  houses.  One 
nearly  opposite  to  the  post  was  the  home  and  shop  of  John  Kinzie  the 
Indian  trader,  who  came  from  Canada;  another  the  residence  of  John 
Lalime,  a  French  Canadian  interpreter  to  the  garrison;  a  third  was 
occupied  by  Antoine  Ouillmette,  also  a  French  Canadian,  and  a  French 
halfbreed  named  Pierre  le  May,2  with  his  Indian  wife  of  the  Pottowatamie 
tribe,  occupied  the  fourth  house.  There  was  then  no  Indian  settlement 
nearer  than  the  Calumet,  some  sixteen  miles  south  of  Fort  Dearborn. 
The  officers  of  the  garrison  and  government,  and  most  of  the  citizens, 
owned  horses,  cows  and  dogs.  Surgeon  Cooper  possessed  two  good 
saddle  horses,  two  cows  and  a  hunting  dog.  The  wife  of  a  soldier  milked 
his  cows,  and  made  butter  for  him,  and  her  husband  had  charge  of  his 
horses.  With  the  exception  of  the  ground  around  Fort  Dearborn  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  Kinzie's  house  on  the  north  side,  the  neighborhood 
was  mostly  low  and  marshy  as  described  by  Dr  Cooper. 

*For  facts  concerning  the  several  persons  here  mentioned,  as  for  the  general  subject 
of  the  selection  see  M.  M.  Quaife,  Chicago  and  the  Old  Northwest  (Chicago,  1913),  127-77. 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812  63 

During  the  period  of  almost  three  years  that  Surgeon  Cooper  served 
at  the  Illinois  frontier  post,  the  Indians  were  quiet  and  peaceable,  but 
he  remembered  hearing  from  Captain  Whistler  that  about  a  month  before 
his  arrival,  Marpock,  a  chief  of  the  Pottowatamies,8  with  several  hundred 
warriors  made  threatening  demonstrations  owing  to  dissatisfaction  with 
an  alleged  act  of  wrong  and  injustice  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
Contractor.  At  that  time,  there  was  an  abundance  of  game  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  little  settlement.  Within  a  week  of  Dr 
Cooper's  arrival  his  dog  and  several  others,  chased  three  deer  past  the 
post  into  the  river.  A  young  soldier  who  was  in  a  canoe  without  any 
weapon,  sprang  into  the  water,  as  a  deer  was  swimming  past,  caught 
her  by  the  neck  and  held  her  head  under,  until  she  was  drowned.  The 
Surgeon's  dog  seized  the  other,  but  the  third,  a  large  stag  with  noble 
antlers,  made  his  escape  on  the  north  bank,  and 

"Soon  free  from  hounds  and  hunters  ken, 
His  solitary  refuge  took." 

But  a  few  days  later,  when  Captain  Whistler  and  Cooper  were  riding 
out  in  company,  they  came  upon  a  large  wolf  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
Fort.  The  Captain's  pair  of  hounds  and  the  Doctor's  dog  soon  over- 
took him,  when  he  turned  and  stood  at  bay  until  the  riders  arrived. 
Having  no  pistols,  and  the  dogs  not  liking  the  ugly  appearance  of  the 
big  wolfs  formidable-looking  teeth,  the  officers  were  compelled  to  call 
off  the  hounds,  and  allow  him  to  escape.  The  howling  of  wolves  at 
night  was  a  common  occurrence  at  Fort  Dearborn  during  the  years  that 
Surgeon  Cooper  was  stationed  there.  Grouse  and  other  game  birds  were 
abundant,  as  were  fish  in  the  adjacent  waters,  so  that  in  the  hunting  sea- 
son much  leisure  time  was  spent  by  the  officers  of  the  garrison  with  gun 
and  rod. 

Cooper  who  succeeded  Dr  William  C  Smith,  first  Surgeon  of  Fort 
Dearborn  was  in  1810,  the  bearer  of  a  challenge  from  Lieutenant  Hamil- 
ton to  John  Kinzie,  the  Indian  trader,  who  declined  to  accept  it,  but  fell  to 
abusing  and  cursing  the  First  lieutenant,  which  occasioned  a  violent  quarrel 
between  the  bearer  of  the  challenge  and  Kinzie.  From  that  day  Cooper 
held  no  further  intercourse  with  the  Indian  trader.  Half  a  century  later 
after  describing  Kinzie  as  a  man  of  ungovernable  temper  Cooper  charged 
him  with  the  murder  of  Lalime  the  interpreter,  adding  that  he  fre- 

3  Marpock,  or  Main  Poc,  was  a  chief  of  the  Illinois  River  Potawatomi,  residing  near 
the  junction  of  the  Des  Plaines  and  Kankakee  rivers.  He  sympathized  with  Tecumsen  and 
during  the  War  of  1812  sided  with  the  British. 


64  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

quently  had  bitter  quarrels  with  people.4  Gurdon  S  Hubbard,  who  went 
to  Chicago  in  1818,  gave  me  a  different  account  of  the  unfortunate  affair, 
representing  that  the  two  men  had  a  bitter  altercation,  that  Lalime 
who  was  armed  with  a  pistol  attacked  Kinzie,  who  in  self-defence, 
stabbed  the  interpreter,  thereby  causing  his  death.  The  Indian  trader 
sought  safety  in  flight,  but  returned  a  few  weeks  later.  As  he  was 
not  arrested  by  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  as  Kinzie  anticipated,  and 
as  Lalime  was  a  particular  favorite  with  them,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that 
Hubbard's  version  of  the  occurrence  is  the  correct  one.  .  ..  f 

Surgeon  Cooper  sent  in  his  resignation  to  the  War  Department  and 
left  Fort  Dearborn  in  April,  1811,  in  company  with  seven  other  persons 
connected  with  the  post.  They  proceeded  around  the  south  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan  to  St  Josephs,  and  from  there  followed  the  same  trail 
to  Detroit  taken  by  Captain  Whistler  and  his  small  party  of  six  in  going 
to  Chicago  eight  years  earlier,  the  time  occupied  being  fourteen  days. 
He  then  went  to  Fort  Wayne  in  six  days,  and  then  by  way  of  Chillicothe, 
Pittsburg,  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  to  Poughkeepsie,  where  he 
established  himself,  continuing  to  practice  there  as  a  physician  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  Dr.  Cooper,  whose  portrait  accompanies  this  article, 
died  in  Poughkeepsie,  March  6,  1863.  The  photograph  was  taken 
seven  years  earlier. 

In  the  course  of  our  many  conversations  concerning  the  early  days 
of  Chicago,  Cooper  gave  me  numerous  interesting  particulars  about 
Captain  Whistler,  who  had  known  his  grandfather.  They  had  served 
in  the  same  British  regiment,  but  of  course  not  at  the  same  time.  John 
Whistler  fought  under  Burgoyne  in  the  campaign  which  was  closed  by 
his  surrender  at  Saratoga,  and  some  years  later,  joined  the  American 
Army.  He  was  severely  wounded  in  General  St  Clair's  disastrous 
campaign  in  1792  [1791]  against  the  Indians,  and  soon  afterward  com- 
missioned ensign,  then  lieutenant,  and  in  July,  1797,  became  captain 
of  the  First  Infantry.  For  several  years  he  was  stationed  with  his 
company  at  Detroit. 

The  following  letter  in  his  possession  contains  so  far  as  the  writer 
is  aware,  the  earliest  documentary  or  printed  mention  of  Fort  Dearborn. 
It  was  written  in  Detroit,  April  30,  1803,  by  Robert  and  James  Abbott, 
a  mercantile  firm  of  that  city,  and  addressed  to  Abbott  and  Maxwell  of 

4  For  an  account  of  the  garrison  feud  here  discussed  see  Quaife,  Chicago  and  the  Old 
Northwest,  171-77;  for  a  discussion  of  the  killing  of  La  Lime,  see  ibid.,  149-50.  Matthew  Irwin, 
government  factor  at  Chicago  from  1809  to  1812,  charged,  in  an  official  letter  to  General 
Mason,  head  of  the  department  of  Indian  trade,  that  Kinzie  murdered  La  Lime,  expressing 
also  the  belief  that  he  was  instrumental  in  bringing  on  the  massacre  in  order  to  save  bis  own 
life  by  destroying  the  witnesses  of  his  crime.  See  Mississippi  VaUev  Historical  Review,  I, 
566-70. 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812  65 

Mackinac.  It  is  as  follows:  "The  Cincinnati  mail  arrived  here  two 
days  ago  and  brings  accounts  of  a  garrison  being  immediately  erected 
at  Chicago.  Captain  Whistler  is  to  have  command  of  the  garrison, 
and  will  leave  this  in  a  few  days  with  his  company  which  consists  of 
eighty  men  to  go  and  erect  the  garrison.  This  is  a  good  opening  for  you, 
if  you  wish  to  extend  your  trade.  Captain  Whistler  wishes  that  we 
would  extend  a  store  there. 

P.  S.  Since  writing. — Captain  Whistler  has  only  taken  six  men  with 
him  to  go  and  examine  the  ground  and  report  to  Majbr  Pike." 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1803,  the  military  post  at  Chicago 
was  erected  by  Captain  Whistler  and  his  company,  aided  by  Lieutenant 
James  S  Swearingen,  an  officer  of  artillery,  and  designated  Fort  Dear- 
born, in  honor  of  Gen  Henry  Dearborn.  It  was  completed  and  occupied 
on  the  first  day  of  December,  and  commanded  by  Captain  Whistler 
until  Sept  30,  1809  [April,  1810],  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Captain 
Nathan  Heald  of  the  same  regiment. 

The  earliest  Fort  Dearborn  letter  that  I  have  ever  met  with,  dated 
September  10,  1808,  was  addressed  by  Whistler  to  "Samuel  Abbott  Esq, 
Macenna  [Mackinac],  Courtesy  Commodore  Brevoort."  It  is  as  follows: 

"Dear  Sir.:  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  favor  of  the  2yth 
Ultimo,  also  the  inclosed  account  the  amount  of  which  you  will  find 
inclosed  in  two  noats — there  is  a  ballance  of  a  few  cents.  I  wish  you 
would  t'ndeavour  to  send  me  a  barrel  or  two  of  fish  by  the  first  vessel 
that  may  came  this  way,  and  send  the  account  of  the  fish  so  as  to  enable 
me  to  make  payment.  Probably  you  will  take  in  return  corn  for  pay- 
ment if  so  I  must  send  it  in  the  barrels,  two  for  one  bushels.  Give  my 
compliments  to  Mr  Hoffman,  and  tell  him  I  shall  pay  particular  attention 
to  sending  the  Box  to  Mr  Beats,  but  I  fear  it  will  not  be  this  fall.  Dear 
Sir,  I  remain  your  friend  and  very  Humble  Servant.  J  Whistler." 

Dr  Cooper  who  correctly  called  Captain  Whistler  "the  founder  of 
Chicago,"  for,  of  course,  the  building  of  Fort  Dearborn  was  the  beginning 
of  the  metropolis  of  the  Northwest,  informed  me  that  his  friend  was 
present  at  the  time  of  General  William  Hull's  surrender  of  Detroit. 
He  was  officer  of  the  day  when  Hull  sent  an  aide-de-camp  with  orders 
to  lower  the  American  colors,  and  hoist  a  white  flag.  The  stout  old 
soldier  absolutely  refused,  saying:  "I  will  be  damned  if  any  man  under 
my  command,  shall  run  up  a  white  flag,"  adding  to  the  aide-de-camp, 
that  if  it  was  done,  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  do  it  himself,  which 
he  accordingly  did.  Captain  Whistler  denounced  the  surrender  as  "a 


66  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

shameful  act  of  cowardice."  At  the  reorganization  of  the  army  in  1815, 
after  the  close  of  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  Whistler  was 
dropped,  having  been  previously  brevetted  major,  presumably  owing  to 
his  advanced  age  or  physical  disability,  but  was  soon  afterward  appointed 
to  the  position  of  military  storekeeper  at  Newport,  Kentucky,  and  later, 
of  Jefferson  Barracks,  St  Louis,  where  he  died  in  September,  1829. 

An  interesting  relic  of  the  first  commander  of  Fort  Dearborn  is  a 
small  flint-lock  pistol  presented  to  Surgeon  Cooper  by  Captain  Whistler 
on  his  surrend[er]ing  command  and  departing  for  Detroit.  The  writer 
acquired  possession  of  it  on  the  occasion  of  his  last  interview  with  Dr 
Cooper,  and  it  is  at  present  included  in  the  celebrated  collection  of 
Charles  F  Gunther  of  Chicago.  Another  relic  also  given  to  Cooper  at 
the  same  time  by  the  Captain,  with  whom  he  was  a  great  favorite, 
was  a  small  English  edition  of  Shenstone's  poems,  which  is  doubtless 
the  oldest  known  literary  relic  of  the  Western  city,  where  it  was  taken 
by  Whistler  in  1803.  I  received  it  from  Dr  Cooper  in  1860,  and  on 
the  occasion  of  delivering  an  address  before  the  Chicago  Historical 
Society  a  score  of  years  later  on  "The  Northwest  and  its  Discover- 
ers," presented  the  ancient  volume  to  the  Society,  where  it  is  carefully 
preserved. 

Dr  Cooper  was  also  an  intimate  friend  of  Whistler's  eldest  son 
William,  who  was  appointed  by  General  Dearborn  during  the  first  year 
of  the  past  century,  second  lieutenant  in  his  father's  regiment,  accom- 
panying the  Captain's  company  to  Chicago,  and  being  stationed  there 
at  the  time  of  Cooper's  service  as  Surgeon  of  Fort  Dearborn.  The 
younger  WThistler  rose  to  the  rank  of  Captain  in  1812,  and  before  his 
father  retired  in  1815,  as  Senior  Captain  of  the  First  Infantry  and  also 
in  the  line  of  the  Army,  the  son  was  next  in  rank  to  him.  William 
Whistler  commanded  Fort  Dearborn  from  June  17,  1832,  to  May  14, 
1833,  passing  through  the  grades  of  Major  and  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
and  in  1845,  he  was  promoted  to  colonel,  and  assigned  to  the  command  of 
the  Fourth  Infantry.  This  is  the  regiment  that  General  Grant  served 
with  through  the  Mexican  War.  One  of  his  many  reminiscences  of 
Whistler  which  I  heard  him  relate  was  as  follows:  When  the  Fourth 
was  ordered  to  march  from  Corpus  Christi,  stringent  orders  were  given 
by  General  Taylor  against  overloading  the  wagons,  but  a  single  one 
being  allowed  to  a  regiment,  as  the  Army  were  to  make  a  forced  march 
to  Brownsville,  which  had  been  attacked  by  the  Mexicans,  and  officers 
were  requested  to  reduce  their  baggage  to  the  smallest  amount  possible. 
Colonel  Whistler  inspecting  the  wagon  of  the  Fourth  before  starting, 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812  67 

discovered  a  small  book  case  containing  a  few  favorite  authors,  belonging 
to  a  young  officer  of  literary  tastes.  "That  will  never  do,  Mr  Graham," 
said  the  old  veteran,  "we  can't  encumber  our  train  with  such  rubbish 
as  books,"  and  they  were  left  behind.  Colonel  Whistler  next  met 
Adjutant  Hoskins,  who  had  seen  the  volumes  taken  out,  and  who 
remarked  in  a  deprecatory  manner,  that  not  being  quite  well  and  requir- 
ing a  stimulant,  he  had  taken  the  liberty  of  putting  a  small  keg  of 
whiskey  in  the  wagon.  "Oh,"  said  the  Colonel,  "that's  all  right,  Mr 
Hoskins  anything  in  reason,  but  Graham  wanted  to  carry  a  case  of 
books!" 

Surgeon  Cooper  described  Whistler  as  being  over  six  feet,  and  like 
his  father,  famous  for  his  personal  strength  and  powers  of  endurance, 
which  surpassed  those  of  the  red  men.  Cooper  recalled  a  celebrated 
race  at  Chicago  between  the  Pottowatamie  chief  and  Whistler.  They 
were  both  magnificent  specimens  of  vigorous  young  manhood,  and  of 
the  same  age  and  size.  The  Indian  was  a  great  runner  who  had  never 
been  beaten :  the  distance  was  five  miles,  and  the  wager  was  the  lieuten- 
ant's horse  and  accoutrements  against  those  of  the  chief  and  his  steed. 
The  contest  was  witnessed  by  several  hundred  Indians  and  the  entire 
garrison,  Whistler  winning  the  remarkable  race  after  a  superb  struggle, 
by  some  sixteen  yards.  So  confident  were  the  red  men  that  their  chief 
would  defeat  the  pale  face,  that  many  Indian  ponies  and  other  property 
were  won  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  Fort  Dearborn  who  accepted 
all  wagers  offered  by  the  Pottowatamies.  Several  years  later,  during 
the  war  of  1812,  the  same  chief  who  was  serving  with  the  British,  sent 
a  challenge  d  outrance  to  Captain  Whistler,  or  any  officer  or  soldier  in 
his  command.  It  was  promptly  accepted  by  his  racing  rival,  and  as 
a  result  of  the  hand  to  hand  fight  with  knives,  swords  and  tomahawk, 
fire-arms  not  being  allowed,  the  Captain's  adversary  departed  for  the 
happy  hunting  grounds. 

William  Whistler  was  born  in  Maryland  six  years  before  the  birth 
of  his  friend  Cooper,  and  outlived  him  nine  months,  dying  in  Cincinnati 
where  the  writer  met  him  Dec  4,  1863.  He  was  at  the  time  of  his  death 
the  oldest  officer  in  the  United  States  army  with  the  single  exception  of 
Gen  Winfield  Scott,  who  told  me  that  he  met  Colonel  Whistler  in  Chicago 
at  the  time  of  the  Black  Hawk  war  and  that  he  had  known  his  father 
during  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain.  The  senior  Whistler  had  two 
other  sons,  John  Jr,  who  was  appointed  Ensign  in  the  Nineteenth 
Infantry  in  1812,  was  wounded  in  battle  and  died  as  first  lieutenant 
in  1813,  and  George  Washington,  born  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  in  1800, 


68  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

was  graduated  at  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  and  entered  the  artillery. 
Resigning  from  the  Army,  Whistler  became  a  distinguished  engineer, 
being  employed  by  the  Russian  government  in  building  railways.  He 
died  in  St  Petersburg  in  1849.  The  gifted,  but  eccentric  artist,  James 
A.  M°Neill  Whistler,  who  died  in  London  in  July,  1903,  was  his  second 
son.*  The  father,  Major  Whistler,  as  he  was  called,  was,  when  a  lad  at 
Fort  Dearborn,  a  particular  favorite  with  Surgeon  Cooper,  who  watched 
his  future  career  with  great  interest,  they  exchanged  occasional  letters 
but,  I  believe,  they  never  met  again  after  April,  1811. 

Another  of  Cooper's  acquaintances  was  James  S.  Swearingen, 
Lieutenant  of  artillery,  who  being  familiar  with  the  country  conducted 
Captain  Whistler's  company  from  Detroit  to  Chicago  during  the  summer 
of  1803,  also  aiding  in  the  construction  of  Fort  Dearborn.  From  a 
recently  discovered  Diary  kept  at  the  time  by  the  young  artillery 
officer,  which  had  been  perdu  or  buried  for  above  a  century,  the  following 
extracts  are  taken:6 — "Detroit — July  14,  1803.  Left  this  place  this 
morning  at  half  past  five  oclock  for  Chicago,  and  proceeded  about 
twenty-five  miles,  encamping  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  on  a  small 
branch  of  bad  water.  *  *  *  Wednesday  Aug.  17.  Proceeded  on  our 
march  at  six  o'clock  A.  M.,  thirty-four  miles  and  encamped  on  the 
Chicago  River  at  two  o'clock  P.  M.  This  stream  is  about  thirty  yards 
wide  where  the  garrison  is  intended  to  be  built,  and  from  eighteen  feet 
upwards  deep,  dead  water,  owing  to  its  being  stopped  up  at  the  mouth 
by  the  washing  of  sand  from  the  lake  [Michigan].  The  water  is  not 
fit  to  use.  The  bank  where  the  fort  is  to  be  erected  is  about  eight  feet 
high  and  half  a  mile  above  the  mouth.  The  opposite,  or  north  bank, 
is  not  so  high,  there  being  a  difference  of  more  than  two  feet  by  appear- 
ances. The  banks  above  are  quite  low.  The  distance  from  Detroit 
to  the  mouth  of  the  St  Josephs  is  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  miles. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Josephs  to  Chicago  ninety  miles  making 
a  total  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-two  miles."  In  both  instances, 
Lieutenant  Swearingen  calls  the  little  Michigan  river  St  Josephus! 
from  which  it  may  be  presumed  that  he  had  been  perusing  Whirton's 
Josephus. 

James  Strode  Swearingen  was  born  in  Westmoreland,  Virginia, 
four  years  before  his  friend  Cooper,  and  appointed  from  Ohio,  second 

•Whistler  was  intended  for  the  profession  of  arms,  but  left  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  without  being  graduated,  to  become  an  artist.  While  at  West  Point,  he  presented 
me  with  an  interesting  drawing  of  the  first  Fort  Dearborn,  erected  by  his  ancestor,  which  to 
my  great  regret  was,  many  years  later  lost,  or  stolen  by  some  admirer  of  the  gifted  painter. 

*The  Diary  is  published  in  full  in  Quaife,  Chicago  and  the  Old  Northwest,  373-77. 


CHICAGO  FROM  1803  TO  1812  69 

lieutenant  of  artillery  Jany  25,  1803,  becoming  first  lieutenant  in  1811, 
and  captain  the  following  year.6  In  March,  1815,  he  was  appointed 
Deputy  Quartermaster-General,  and  a  year  later  became  Quartermaster- 
General  of  the  Army,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel.  A  few  months  after 
the  close  of  the  war  Colonel  Swearingen,  was  honorably  discharged 
from  the  service  at  his  own  request,  and  died  in  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  Febru- 
ary 3,  1864,  surviving  Surgeon  Cooper  and  also,  so  far  as  known,  all 
others  in  any  way  connected  with  the  first  Fort  Dearborn,  for  he  assisted 
for  several  months,  Captain  Whistler,  who  began  its  construction  in 
August,  1803.  There  were  five  other  commissioned  officers  of  his  name 
and  family  in  the  United  States  [army]  at  that  time,  i.  e.  before  and  during 
the  Second  war  with  Great  Britain.  Colonel  Swearingen's  grand- 
daughter writes  to  me:  "In  answer  to  your  inquiry  why  Lieut.  Swear- 
ingen was  sent  to  Chicago  in  1803  in  command  of  Captain  Whistler's 
company  which  marched  overland  from  Detroit,  while  he  with  his  family 
went  by  water,  I  can  'only,  say  that  his  family  have  always  supposed  it 
was  because  as  an  artillery  officer,  he  was  detailed  to  superintend  the 
construction  of  the  proposed  fort.7  In  reply  to  your  other  question  as 
to  how  we  account  for  the  length  of  time — thirty-four  days,  in  marching 
from  Detroit  to  Chicago,  when  it  should  not  have  required  more  than 
two  weeks,  I  will  state  that  under  date  of  July  28th  my  grandfather's 
Journal  contains  the  following:  'Detained  at  this  place  (on  Kankakee 
River)  until  the  12th  of  August,'  so  you  see  how  time  was  lost  on  the 
journey." 

The  most  prominent  Indian  with  whom  Surgeon  Cooper  came  in 
contact  while  in  the  West  was  Shabbona  for  whom  he  successfully  pre- 
scribed without  charge,  when  the  young  chief  was  suffering  from  some 
sickness.  He  was  a  nephew  of  Tecumseh,  by  whose  side  Shabbona  fought 
several  years  after  Cooper  met  him,  when  the  celebrated  Shawnee 
warrior  fell  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames.  I  saw  Shabbona  in  Illinois 
about  a  year  before  his  death  in  1859.  He  was  of  tan  and  massive  figure, 
was  pleased  to  hear  of  the  pale  face  medicine  man  who  had  cured  him  of 
his  illness  at  Fort  Dearborn  some  four  decades  earlier,  and  made  me  the 
bearer  of  a  kind  message  to  Cooper.  The  accompanying  portrait  conveys 

6  These  dates  are  given  incorrectly.     Swearingen  became  a  first  lieutenant  in  1805  and 
a  captain  in  1811. 

7  This  supposition  is  incorrect.     Swearingen's  own  narrative  of  his  career,  preserved  in 
the  Chicago  Historical  Society  Library,  shows  that  his  connection  with  the  founding  of  Fort 
Dearborn  was  limited  to  leading  Captain  Whistler's  company  of  troops  from  Detroit  to 
Chicago.     This  he  did  in  order  that  Whistler,  who  was  physically  infirm,  might  accompany 
his  family  around  the  lakes  in  the  sailboat  "Tracy."     Swearingen  turned  over  the  command 
to  Whistler  immediately,  and  returned  to  Detroit  on  the  "Tracy." 


70  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

a  good  idea  of  the  chief,  whose  name  signifies  that  his  head  and  shoulders 
resembled  those  of  a  bear. 

As  a  concluding  paragraph  I  may  state,  that  Surgeon  Cooper  was 
succeeded  at  Fort  Dearborn  by  Dr  Isaac  V.  Van  Voorhis.  They  were 
natives  of  Fishkill,  born  in  the  same  year,  and  had  been  college  classmates. 
The  latter  was  among  those  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  Chicago  massacre 
of  1812.  In  our  last  interview  in  August,  1860,  Cooper  with  considerable 
feeling  assured  me,  that  his  friend  Van  Voorhis  was  misrepresented  by 
Mrs  Kinzie  and  other  writers,  as  he  was  a  brave,  Christian  gentleman 
and  could  not  possibly  have  acted  in  a  dastardly  manner  described  in  the 
many  accounts  of  the  massacre  in  which  he  was  killed.  He  was  neither  an 
unbeliever  or  a  coward,  as  represented  by  the  Indian  trader's  step- 
daughter Mrs  Helm  in  her  narrative  related  in  "  Waubun",  on  which  the 
various  versions  of  the  tragedy  were  obviously  chiefly  based.  "  I  hope 
that  in  your  proposed  History  of  Chicago,"  said  Cooper,  "you  will  do 
justice  to  the  memory  of  the  much-maligned  Van  Voorhis." 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL: 
CHICAGO  FROM  1816  TO  1822 

[April] 

EING  again  out  of  employment,  my  time  during  spring  and 
summer  was  mostly  taken  up  in  visiting  my  friends  and 
assisting  my  father  occasionally  in  writing.  Altho'  not  much 
disposed  to  hard  labor,  I  had  been  accustomed  to  active 
employment,  and  my  present  inactivity  had  become  therefore  irksome  to 
me.  In  this  state  of  feeling,  I  addressed  a  letter  to  my  old  patron  Genl. 
Mason,  Superintendent  of  Indian  trade,  to  enquire  whether  there  would 
be  any  opening  soon  in  his  Dept.  and  if  so  to  make  my  claim  for  a 
restoration. 

[August]  In  reply  he  stated  that  he  proposed  to  establish  a  Trading 
factory  at  Chicago  and  to  send  on  a  few  goods  so  as  to  arrive  out  before 
cold  weather  set  in  and  that  the  service  would  be  required  forthwith. 
If  the  agency  suited  me  on  these  terms,  it  was  at  my  service.  I  signified 
my  acceptance  and  on  the  22nd  August  received  the  appointment  with 
directions  to  proceed  with  due  diligence  to  Erie,  Penn.,  where  I  would 
meet  the  goods  and  a  public  vessel,  prepared  to  convey  me  and  them  to 
Chicago.  Accordingly  on  the  29th  I  started  for  Erie  by  way  of  Buffalo 
where  I  met  Mr.  Irwin,1  from  Uniontown,  Pa.,  agent  appointed  for  Green 
Bay,  whose  instructions  were  similar  to  my  own.  [Sept.  4]  Buffalo 
was  partially  destroyed  by  the  British  during  the  war,  yet  it  was  now  a 
place  of  business  activity  and  bore  much  more  the  appearance  of  a  city 
than  in  1811,  when  I  passed  through  it. 

[Sept.  6]  Took  our  passage  in  a  miserable  apology  for  a  schooner  and 
after  a  rough  passage  and  losing  a  man  overboard  reached  Erie  the  next 
day.  The  goods  had  not  arrived  and  we  now  learned  that  the  military 
part  of  the  expedition  which  was  to  accompany  us  both  to  Chicago  and 
Green  Bay,  had  been  postponed  to  the  ensuing  spring,  which  of  course 

1  Matthew  Irwin  had  been  government  factor  at  Fort  Dearborn  from  1809  to  1812, 
leaving  the  place  in  July  of  the  latter  year,  only  a  few  weeks  in  advance  of  the  massacre. 
He  was  now  returning  to  the  West  under  appointment  to  the  charge  of  the  factory  the  govern- 
ment had  resolved  to  establish  at  Green  Bay.  Here  he  remained,  like  Varnum  at  Chicago, 
until  the  abolition  of  the  factory  system  in  1822.  The  remainder  of  his  life,  like  its  earlier 
portion  was  spent  in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  died  in  1844. 


72  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

involved  the  postponement  of  the  factories.  Nevertheless  it  was  deter- 
mined by  the  naval  commander  to  take  the  goods,  should  they  arrive  in 
season,  on  to  Mackinac  this  fall,  there  to  await  the  expedition  in  the 
spring.  The  services  of  both  Mr.  Irwin  and  myself  were  not  deemed 
necessary  to  carry  out  this  arrangement;  so  it  was  finally  arranged  that 
I  should  go  on  with  the  goods  and  Mr.  Irwin,  who  was  only  150  miles 
from  his  home,  should  return  there. 

[Sept.  24]  Our  goods  having  arrived  and  been  put  on  board  the 
national  vessels  Porcupine  and  Ghent,  we  sailed  from  Erie  and  reached 
Detroit  Oct  i.  Here  the  Capt.  consented  to  take  on  board  a  lady  pas- 
senger for  Mackinac,  which  subjected  me  to  much  inconvenience.  I  had 
to  give  up  my  comfortable  berth  for  one  so  near  the  bottom  of  the  vessel 
that  in  a  rough  sea  our  shallow  little  schooner  would  roll  up  the  bilge  water 
and  spurt  it  into  my  berth  which  was  therefore  kept  wet  most  of  the  time. 

[Oct.  1 6]  Arrived  at  Mackinac  and  on  the  goods  being  discharged 
found  many  of  them  badly  wet,  which  I  had  to  open  and  dry.  There  was 
no  necessity  or  reason  for  the  damage  these  goods  had  sustained.  The 
weather  had  been  favorable  and  the  sea  not  unusually  rough.  Had  the 
ordinary  pains  used  in  storing  merchandise  been  observed  the  goods 
would  have  arrived  perfectly  safe.  Instead  of  that,  the  packages  were 
merely  tumbled  into  the  hold,  without  regard  to  care  or  a  particle  of 
dunnage  to  raise  them  from  the  dampness  of  the  floor  or  the  swashing  of 
the  bilge  water.  The  officers  would  give  no  satisfaction  and  were  exceed- 
ingly indignant  that  the  Govt.  should  require  of  the  associates  of  the 
immortal  Perry  so  menial  a  service  as  the  transportation  of  merchandise 
even  altho'  it  was  govt.  property.  Lt.  Packer  the  Commander  boldly 
demanded  it  was  a  meanness  unworthy  of  an  honorable  Govt.  Packer 
was  a  Virginian  as  well  by  overbearing  hauteur  as  by  birth  and  withal 
a  perfect  tyrant  so  far  as  his  little  command  extended. 

While  with  him  about  4  weeks  I  witnessed  the  infliction  of  more 
severe  and  often  undeserved  chastisements  than  during  my  whole  life 
since.  He  had  a  cook,  a  negro  servant  of  his  own,  whom  he  brought  with 
him  from  Va.  and  extolled  as  a  first  rate  servant,  and  said  he  would  not 
dispose  of  him  for  his  weight  in  gold.  At  dinner  the  2nd  day  out  Packer 
took  it  into  his  head  that  the  meat  was  not  sufficiently  cooked.  He 
demanded  of  Harry  why  the  meat  was  not  better  done.  He  in  an  humble 
tone  of  alarm  thought  it  was  well  done.  "You  thought,  you  scoundrel! 
What  right  have  you  to  think?"  "Go  to  the  boatswain  and  tell  him  to 
give  you  a  dozen."  Harry  deliberately  walked  up  the  stairs,  and  I  could 
distinctly  hear  the  dull  sounds  of  the  rope  each  time  accompanied  with  a 
groan.  When  it  was  finished  he  came  down  stairs,  tears  rolling  down  his 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL  73 

cheeks.  The  scene  pretty  effectually  destroyed  my  appetite  for  that 
meal.  One  of  his  seamen — -an  old  salt — possessing  an  unfortunate  pro- 
pensity for  the  ardents  was  consequently  often  found  unfit  for  duty. 
About  a  week  [before]  Packer  had  informed  me  that  he  had  flogged  him 
unmercifully  and  told  him  the  next  time  he  was  found  drunk  he  would 
give  him  a  hundred  lashes.  The  threat  was  of  little  avail,  for  he  managed 
at  Erie  to  smuggle  a  bottle  of  whisky  on  board,  and  indulging  too  freely, 
was  delinquent  at  roll  call.  It  was  reported  to  the  Capt.  and  he  went 
on  deck  in  quite  a  rage.  The  delinquent  was  brought  out,  ordered  to  be 
stripped  and  lashed  to  the  shrouds.  Feeling  no  desire  to  witness  the 
scene,  I  went  down  into  the  cabin.  Shortly  Packer  came  down,  still  in  a 

rage  because  the  man  bore  it  so  stoically.     He  said  he  gave  the  d -d 

rascal  a  hundred  without  producing  a  groan.  He  then  told  him  if  he 
did  not  promise  to  keep  sober  he  would  repeat  the  dose  and  "recommend 
the  second  score  on  his  raw  back  now  covered  with  blood,  and  had  got  as 
far  as  17  when  the  poor  fellow  gave  in,  begging  for  mercy  and  promising 
all  that  was  required.  Another  instance  and  I  have  done  with  Mr. 
Packer.  As  is  well  known  to  Lake  travelers,  there  is  at  the  outlet  of 
Huron,  quite  a  brisk  rapid  for  a  %  mile  or  more.  This  is  difficult  to 
stem  and  can  only  be  overcome  by  sails  when  the  wind  is  fair  and  pretty 
stiff,  and  even  then  if  the  steering  is  not  exact  the  vessel  is  inevitably 
turned  to  the  right  or  left  by  the  rapid  current  unduly  bearing  upon  her 
starboard  or  larboard  bow,  sometimes  shearing  half  way  across  the  river 
before  she  can  be  brought  to.  Whether  or  not  the  little  Porcupine  was 
more  difficult  to  steer  than  other  vessels,  or  more  liable  to  veering  from 
the  rudder,  I  do  not  know,  but  she  certainly  made  some  long  slants  that 
day  and  soon  raised  the  ire  of  Packer  against  the  helmsman.  He  ordered 
a  fresh  hand  to  the  wheel  and  the  former  man  to  receive  a  dozen  lashes. 
Scarcely  a  minute  elapsed  when  away  she  went  to  the  opposite  tack  and 
then  he  made  another  change  at  the  wheel  and  gave  another  dozen  and 
so  on  successively  until  every  seaman  on  board  took  his  turn  at  the  wheel 
and  received  his  quota  of  lashes  before  we  got  into  the  lake.  I  was  sitting 
on  the  quarter  deck,  closely  watching  the  motion  of  the  vessel  and 
firmly  think  that  every  man  ordered  to  the  wheel  did  his  best  to  keep  her 
right  and  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  do  so. 

Michilimackinac  is  an  Island  some  20  or  30  miles  in  circumference, 
lying  in  the  straights  of  the  same  name  between  Huron  and  Michigan. 
There  is  a  small  settlement  on  the  southern  end  of  Canadian  French  and 
half  breeds.  The  houses  are  all  of  wood  and  generally  small  and  illy 
constructed.  In  all  there  are  probably  from  50  to  75.  It  has  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years  been  an  outfitting  post  for  Indian  trade,  and  has 


74  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

acquired  some  celebrity  as  such  and  for  the  immense  quantity  of  very 
fine  fish  taken  in  the  neighborhood. 

I  took  up  my  board  with  Mr.  John  Dousman,  who  with  his  brother 
Michael  were  old  residents.  The  latter  was  quite  wealthy.  From  my 
arrival  until  the  latter  part  of  Nov.  the  weather  was  remarkably  mild  and 
pleasant.  After  that  it  was  very  cold  up  to  the  first  of  May.  Ice  made 
in  the  harbor  to  the  thickness  of  4  or  5  feet,  yet  I  suffered  less  from  the 
cold  than  I  have  done  since  in  Va.  on  many  occasions  of  sudden  changes 
from  mild  to  cold  weather.  I  was  at  Mackinac  about  10  months  and 
passed  the  time  quite  pleasantly,  especially  the  latter  part  of  it,  when  I 
courted  and  married  my  first  wife.  Most  of  my  time  was  occupied  during 
the  day  in  reading  and  in  the  evening  in  social  amusements  with  the 
officers  of  the  garrison  and  a  few  merchants  wintering  with  us.  On  the  whole 
I  look  back  on  that  cold  winter  as  one  among  the  pleasantest  of  my  life. 
When  the  cold  set  in,  I  was  well  prepared,  had  a  tight  and  comfortable 
room  with  an  air  tight  stove  and  plenty  of  wood.  In  pleasant  days  I  would 
accompany  Dousman  to  his  fishing  nets  and  hooks,  which  was  rare  sport. 

[May  i,  1816]  This  day  the  ice  in  the  straights  took  its  disappear- 
ance— forced  away  by  a  stiff  westerly  gale — and  at  night  was  completely 
out  of  sight,  taking  with  it  a  may  pole,  erected  in  the  morning  by  the 
jovial  French  inhabitants,  who  enjoyed  their  May  frolic  hugely,  keeping 
it  up  until  late  at  night. 

Judge  of  my  surprise,  when  I  arose  the  following  morning,  to  find 
the  harbor  again  full  of  ice.  It  set  sail  in  the  A.  M.  of  the  previous  day 
with  every  prospect  of  a  prosperous  voyage;  but  like  many  a  ship,  it 
encountered  a  head  wind  and  was  forced  to  return.  It  must  have  come 
in  under  a  heavy  pressure  of  sail.  It  was  then  wasted  away  to  about  2  ft. 
in  thickness  and  came  in  with  such  force  as  to  load  the  beach  with  enough  to 
make  ice  cream  for  all  the  world.  It  piled  up  so  high  that  it  attained  to  an 
enormous  body  of  stratified  ice,  in  many  places  from  10  to  20  feet  in  thick- 
ness, requiring  several  months  of  spring  and  summer  sun  to  dissolve  it. 

In  sketching  Mackinac  I  omitted  the  military  works.  Immediately 
back  of  the  town  at  an  elevation  of  from  80  to  100  ft.  stands  Fort  Brady, 
a  regular  work,  of  capacity  for  200  or  300  men.  About  H  of  a  mile 
further  back,  on  the  most  elevated  point  of  the  island,  is  Fort  Holmes,  of 
smaller  capacity.  Col.  Chambers  of  the  Rifle  Corps,  was  military 
commandant,  having  under  him  two  companies — one  of  rifles  commanded 
by  Capt.  John  O'Fallon — now  a  millionaire,  I  am  told,  in  St.  Louis:2  one 

*Capt.  John  O'Fallon,  a  nephew  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  was  born  at  Louisville,  in 
1791.  He  served  as  a  volunteer  in  Harrison's  campaign  against  Tecumseh  in  1811,  and  was 
badly  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe.  He  served  throughout  the  War  of  1812,  and 
thereafter  in  the  regular  army  until  1818.  Settling  at  St.  Louis,  he  acquired  wealth  and 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL  75 

of  artillery,  commanded  by  Capt.  B.  K.  Pierce,  an  excellent  officer. 
He  and  Lt.  John  Pierce  of  the  same  company  are  elder  brothers  of  Frank 
Pierce,  late  Prest.  of  the  U.  S. 

Capt.  Pierce  became  enamored  of  a  dashing  half  breed  French  and 
Indian  girl  and  married  her.  She  was  quite  dark,  but  had  received  a 
polished  education  in  a  Montreal  convent." 

[May,  1816]  Nothing  occurred  worthy  of  notice  until  spring  or 
close  of  May,  when  a  vessel  arrived  from  below,  producing  quite  a 
sensation  in  our  small  community,  as  the  first  spring  arrivals  always  do 
at  frontier  posts.  It  was  our  first  communication  with  the  civilized 
world  since  Oct.  On  board  this  vessel  was  a  young  lady  from  Detroit, 
who  came  to  visit  a  wealthy  Aunt  residing  here.  She  was  a  girl  of 
polished  manners,  tall  and  graceful  in  her  walk,  and  of  striking  symmetry 
of  form  and  with  especially  fascinating  manners.  Her  hair  was  auburn; 
her  eyes  dark  blue  and  remarkably  transparent  skin  blended  with  a  due 
proportion  of  red.  This  was  no  other  than  Mary  Ann  Aiken,  who  sub- 
sequently became  my  wife.  Perhaps  my  partiality  has  given  an  undue 
coloring  to  the  above  description.  It  is  however  a  candid  view  of  my 
own  unexaggerated  impressions.  I  thought  her  in  point  of  beauty  quite 
equal  to  any  lady  I  had  seen.  She  was  of  English  descent,  born  in 
Canada.  Her  father  was  a  merchant  of  England  and  in  affluent  circum- 
stances up  to  the  War  of  1812,  when  he  became  involved  in  unfortunate 
contracts  and  lost  all  his  property.  Fortunately,  Mary,  his  eldest 
daughter,  had  received  a  polished  education.  Her  younger  sisters  were 
less  fortunate,  as  he  was  not  then  able  to  bestow  on  them  a  thorough, 
tho'  they  had  a  good  ordinary  school,  training.  One  of  them  was  very 
pretty  and  was  subsequently  married  to  Dr.  Crow  of  the  Army;  what 
became  of  the  other  I  do  not  know. 

[August  21]  Bro.  Joseph4  arrived  at  Mackinac,  in  charge  of  John 
Jacob  Astor's  goods  for  the  fur  trade.  He  remained  only  a  few  days. 

prominence.  He  was  president  of  severaj  banks  and  of  one  early  railroad  company,  and  was 
a  leader  in  many  other  business  enterprises.  He  also  acquired  a  well-deserved  reputation, 
as  a  philanthropist,  founding,  among  other  institutions,  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College,  the 
O'Fallon  Polytechnic,  and  the  Home  for  the  Friendless. 

3  Mrs.  Baird,  author  of  the  succeeding  narrative  of  a  visit  to  Chicago  in  1817,  writes 
entertainingly  of  Josette  Laframboise,  Captain  Pierce's  bride,  and  of  the  wedding.  See 
Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  XIV,  38-41.  She  describes  the  bride  as  "a  highly  educated 
and  cultivated  woman.  Her  graceful  demeanor  was  a  charm.  She  was  small  in  person,  a 
clear  brunette  with  black  eyes  and  very  black,  wavy  hair." 

4Joseph  Bradley  Varnum,  1785-1867,  had  served  as  factor  at  Fort  Dearborn  and 
later  at  Mackinac  from  1807  to  1812.  After  the  close  of  the  war  he  again  came  West,  this 
time  as  an  agent  for  John  Jacob  Astor,  head  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  The  family 
biographer  states  that  Varnum  rejected  the  proffer  by  Astor  of  a  partnership  in  the  business. 
However  this  may  be,  he  retired  from  the  fur  trade  in  1817,  and  engaging  in  business  in  New 
York  City,  made  himself  a  wealthy  man.  He  had  extensive  banking  and  railroad  interests, 
being  an  important  stockholder  of  the  New  York  Central  and  Wabash  roads  among  others. 


j6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

[27]  My  marriage  with  Mary  Ann  Aiken  was  solemnized  this  day  by 
Major  Puthuff,  there  being  no  minister  of  the  gospel  in  the  place. 

[Sep.  8]  Embarked  on  the  "Tiger"  for  Chicago,  with  all  the  factory 
goods.  Capt.  Bradley  with  the  military  detachment  [consisting  of]  two 
companies  proceeded  me  about  four  weeks. 

[13]  Arrived  in  Chicago  and  commenced  boarding  with  Mr.  John 
Kinzie  and  his  family,  an  old  resident  of  the  place  before  the  war.  Mr.  K. 
and  his  family  witnessed  the  massacre  of  Capt.  Heald  and  his  command 
in  1812,  he  being  an  Indian  trader  was  protected  and  spared  with  his 
family. 

The  sickening  scene  occurred  about  two  miles  from  the  fort,  while  they 
were  attempting  to  effect  their  escape  by  land  thro' to  Detroit.  There  was 
at  the  time  a  very  large  number  of  Indians  encamped  around  the  fort, 
manifestly  with  hostile  intentions.  Capt.  Heald  was  aware  of  their  state 
of  feeling  and  was  urged  by  the  traders  not  to  abandon  the  fort.  He  had 
an  abundant  supply  of  provisions  and  could  easily  have  maintained  his 
position  until  relief  could  be  had;  but  he  could  not  be  persuaded.  Go 
he  would,  and  go  he  attempted.  He  held  a  council  with  some  of  the 
principal  chiefs,  and  by  way  of  conciliation  he  proposed  to  secure  their 
non-interference  with  his  march  by  surrendering  to  them  the  fort 
and  all  its  supplies.  This  being  precisely  what  they  wanted,  they  readily 
signed  a  paper  to  that  effect,  with  the  full  purpose  of  violating  the  same. 
Regarding  the  way  as  now  clear,  Capt.  H.  made  preparation  for  his  march 
of  300  miles  thro'  the  wilderness.  He  surrendered  the  fort  with  all  its 
supplies,  except  what  was  necessary  for  him  on  his  march  and  took  his 
departure  down  the  lake  beach.  He  had  proceeded  two  miles — the  lake 
on  his  left  and  a  succession  of  sand  hills  on  his  right.  Behind  these  the 
Indians  had  concealed  themselves,  and  when  the  troops  approached, 
poured  so  deadly  a  fire  into  them  that  more  than  half  fell  dead  on  the 
spot.  The  remainder  immediately  charged  up  the  bank  when  the 
Indians  fled  to  the  open  prairie  but  made  such  good  use  of  their  rifles  at 
long  distances  that  they  cut  off  every  man  before  night,  with  little  or  no 
loss  on  their  part. 

When  we  reached  Chicago  four  years  after,  we  collected  the  bleached 
bones  of  about  70,  by  estimation,  and  gave  them  a  respectful  burial. 
Chicago  at  this  time  presented  a  desolate  appearance,  only  the  skeletons 
of  two  buildings  remained.  Mr.  Kinzie's  old  house  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river  and  a  small  log  one  on  the  south.  The  latter  was 
assigned  for  my  use  to  serve  as  a  store  and  dwelling.  It  was  about  20 
feet  square  and  \]/z  stones  high.  I  managed  to  store  away  a  large  portion 
of  the  goods  in  the  loft,  the  remainder  I  placed  with  Mr.  Kinzie  for  retail 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL  77 

purposes,  he  acting  as  interpreter.  I  then  had  a  floor  laid  of  puncheons 
—logs  split  out  four  or  five  inches  in  thickness  and  roughly  hewed  on  the 
face.  I  also  had  a  lean-to  erected,  which  served  as  a  kitchen,  and  in  this 
establishment  we  resided,  after  a  few  weeks  boarding,  up  to  the  time  of 
my  beloved  wife's  decease.  Accommodating  ourselves  to  our  limited 
quarters,  the  winter  glided  away  very  pleasantly.  I  frequently  indulged 
my  propensity  for  hunting,  for  which  I  became  very  fond  and  sometimes 
returned  with  a  good  supply  of  game. 

[April  1817]  About  this  time  my  wife  became  indisposed,  and 
fortunately  for  us,  her  sister  Ann  arrived  on  a  visit  and  was  of  great 
service  to  us,  for  we  were  without  servants  and  no  possibility  of  procuring 
any.  My  wife's  indisposition  commenced  with  slight  daily  sickness  at 
the  stomach,  which  increased  in  intensity  from  day  to  day  until  she 
became  so  weak  as  to  be  compelled  to  keep  her  bed  up  to  the  period  of  her 
parturition  which  occurred  on  the  27th  of  June,  1817.  The  child,  a  boy, 
was  of  full  size,  but  still  born.  Its  long  suffering  mother  survived  but 
a  few  minutes.  Thus  was  I  bereft  of  a  beloved  wife  and  the  anticipated 
hope  of  a  family.  The  mother  with  her  child  in  her  arms  was  buried  a 
few  yards  from  my  house,  where  they  rested  when  I  left  Chicago,  1822. 
In  the  growth  of  the  city  in  after  years,  the  little  cemetery  was  wanted  for 
other  purposes.  A  kind  friend  whom  I  have  never  seen,  removed  the 
remains  to  the  Chicago  Cemetery,  where  they  rest,  not,  I  trust,  to  be 
again  disturbed  until  the  resurrection  morning. 

[July]  In  July  I  accompanied  sister  Ann  back  again  to  Mackinac, 
and  returned  Aug.  4th.  From  this  time  onward  for  2  years,  nothing 
especially  worthy  of  record  occurred.  My  time  was  generally  taken  up, 
first  in  superintending  the  erection  of  a  house  for  a  factory  in  1817, 
attending  to  my  traffic  with  the  Indians  and  to  my  domestic  affairs, 
farming,  gardening,  etc.,  and  frequently  in  hunting.  In  the  latter  line, 
my  great  ambition  was  to  capture  a  deer.  In  that  I  succeeded  but  twice; 
in  turkies  not  once.  My  greatest  success  was  in  ducks  and  pigeons;  of 
the  former  I  killed  47  in  one  trip  up  the  river;  of  the  latter,  I  shot  multi- 
tudes at  different  times  and  caught  a  great  many  in  a  net  of  my  own 
device. 

[June  1819]  Some  gentlemen  of  the  place  having  business  in 
Detroit,  urged  me  to  accompany  them,  and  having  no  business  at  this 
inactive  season  of  the  year  requiring  my  presence  here,  I  felt  a  strong 
desire  for  a  change.  Our  summers  were  exceedingly  dull  and  solitary 
here.  We  have  nothing  to  exercise  our  bodies  or  divert  our  minds.  The 
hunting  season  is  necessarily  suspended  and  even  the  Indians  are  too 
inactive  to  leave  their  little  plantations.  During  the  hot  months  we 


78  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

have  little  else  to  do  than  fight  mosquitoes.  I  had  passed  two  or  three 
summers  in  such  listless  idleness  that  the  desire  for  a  change  entirely 
possessed  me,  altho'  fully  aware  that  a  ride  of  between  300  and  400  miles 
thro'  the  wilderness  in  fly  time  would  not  be  a  very  pleasant  trip,  I 
determined  on  trying  it  and  made  preparations  accordingly.  About  the 
loth  of  June  we  commenced  our  journey,  going  via  Ft.  Wayne.  Our 
party  consisted  of  Lt.  Baker,  Mr.  John  Dean,5  a  guide  and  myself.  We 
reached  Ft.  Wayne  on  the  6th  day,  distance  something  over  200  miles, 
and  tarried  a  couple  of  days.  My  horse  the  last  day  became  quite  lame, 
and  I  found  it  necessary  to  discharge  him.  Fortunately  a  gentleman 
here  had  a  young  horse  in  bad  condition,  having  just  come  in  from  a  long 
journey,  which  he  offered  to  exchange  for  mine.  As  I  could  not  proceed 
with  a  lame  horse,  I  accepted  his  terms,  altho'  I  had  not  forgotten  my 
bad  bargain  in  Pennsylvania,  some  years  before.  In  this  present  instance 
however,  I  had  no  cause  to  rue  my  bargain.  My  horse  took  me  safely 
thro'  and  in  two  or  three  weeks  had  so  far  recruited  that  I  sent  him  on 
to  Chicago.  He  eventually  proved  the  best  horse  I  had  ever  owned. 

From  Ft.  Wayne  we  proceeded  down  the  Maumee  River  to  Ft. 
Meigs,  about  100  miles,  in  30  days.  Two  days  more  brought  us  to 
Detroit.  The  whole  distance  is  something  like  370  miles.  On  the 
last  day  of  our  trip  I  met  with  a  rather  ludicrous  disaster,  which  excited 
the  merriment  of  my  companions.  We  had  to  cross  a  swampy  place  of 
several  hundred  yards,  into  which  the  horses  sank  up  to  the  saddle  girths 
in  sticky  black  mud,  about  like  tar.  My  companions  were  ahead  and 
after  hard  struggle  and  plunging  of  their  horses  got  safely  thro',  tho' 
pretty  well  spattered  with  mud.  Now  came  my  turn  and  to  avoid  one 
of  the  worst  places  I  forced  my  horse  out  of  the  lob-lolly  track,  when  one 
of  his  fore  feet  plunged  beneath  a  root  and  in  his  efforts  to  extricate 
himself,  he  pitched  head  over  heels  into  the  mud  and  I  under  him.  There 
I  lay  helpless  until  the  horse  struggled  to  his  legs  again,  and  I  was  pulled 
out  by  my  companions.  Neither  of  us  sustained  any  hurt,  but  we  were 
too  conspicuous  objects  to  enter  the  city,  only  a  short  distance  ahead. 
I  was  completely  coated  with  mud.  Baker,  who  was  something  of  a  wag, 
enquired  for  feathers  at  every  house  we  passed,  that  he  might  give  me  the 
finishing  touch.  [June  1819]  I  washed  myself  off  as  well  as  I  could  in  a 
running  stream  and  cleaned  up  my  horse  and  by  entering  Detroit  at  dark, 
escaped  the  jeers  of  the  rabble. 

6  Lieut.  Daniel  Baker,  stationed  at  Fort  Dearborn  for  several  years  subsequent  to  its 
rebuilding  in  1816,  is  the  same  officer  whose  family  is  referred  to  in  Mrs.  Baird's  narrative 
(post)  of  her  homeward  journey  from  Chicago. 

John  Dean  was  army  contractor  at  Fort  Dearborn.  Apparently  he  came  to  Chicago  at 
the  time  the  garrison  was  restored  in  1816,  and  lived  here  for  several  years  thereafter. 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL  79 

Detroit,  at  this  period,  was  a  comparatively  small  place.  It  had 
not  recovered  from  the  devastating  effects  of  the  late  war,  on  account  of 
which  it  suffered  much,  both  in  population  and  property.  Those  of  the 
population  that  still  remained,  had  certainly  lost  nothing  in  inquisitive- 
ness.  As  usual  in  small  towns,  they  not  only  knew  each  other,  but  when 
a  stranger  arrived  they  very  soon  learned  his  name  and  residence  and 
business.  The  following  incident  illustrates  this.  The  morning  after  my 
arrival,  when  walking  the  streets,  I  heard  thro'  the  blinds  in  a  suppressed 
female  voice — "Come  here!  come  here!  That  is  Mr.  Varnum  from 
Chicago!" 

I  found  I  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention,  simply  from  the  fact 
that  3  years  before  I  had  contracted  an  alliance  with  a  lady  of  this 
vicinity,  with  whom  all  were  acquainted  and  for  whose  untimely  loss, 
all  sincerely  mourned.  This  seemed  to  introduce  me  to  families  of  the 
highest  respectability  and  procured  me  invitations  to  their  houses. 
Many  of  them  doubtless  supposed  me  a  candidate  for  matrimony,  and 
I  must  confess  the  fact  of  my  long  and  tedious  trip  thro'  the  wilderness 
and  without  any  assignable  business,  seemed  to  give  color  to  such  a 
supposition,  but  I  solemnly  aver  that  I  had  no  such  object  in  coming 
hither,  and  I  hope  my  testimony  will  not  be  impeached  from  the  fact  that 
matrimony  did  actually  ensue.  It  was  at  an  evening  visit  as  an  invited 
guest  that  I  was  first  introduced  to  Catherine  Dodeamead  [Dodimead]. 
She  was  young,  of  slender  form  and  genteel  appearance  and  her  innocent 
vivacity  and  sprightliness  pleased  me  more  than  any  other  lady  of  the 
company.  I  asked  and  obtained  permission  to  call  on  her  the  next  day 
and  our  subsequent  interviews  gradually  ripened  into  mutual  sentiments 
of  love  and  esteem. 

[August  8,  1819]  We  were  married  August  8th,  1819;  she  being  19 
and  I  31. 

About  two  months  after  our  marriage,  we  embarked  on  a  schooner 
for  Chicago.  My  wife  had  with  her  her  sister  Maria  and  a  servant  and 
our  passengers  were  a  jovial  set,  both  male  and  female.  The  weather 
being  propitious  we  reached  our  destination  in  September,  after  a  very 
pleasant  trip.  My  wife  being  provided  with  two  yellow  servants,  a  boy 
and  a  girl,  we  at  once  set  up  housekeeping.  At  this  time  I  was  com- 
fortably provided  for  in  that  respect — the  military  having  built  me  a 
decent  house  nearly  two  years  since.  Our  society  too,  had,  of  late, 
much  improved.  Several  of  the  officers  had  brought  on  their  families, 
and  all  seemed  disposed  to  be  social  and  friendly.  We  had  frequent 
evening  parties,  with  dancing  and  other  amusements,  so  that  our  time 
passed  very  pleasantly  until  midwinter,  when  my  wife's  sister  who  had 


8o  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

since  October  been"  afflicted  with  a  distressing  cough,  was  pronounced  to 
to  be  in  a  confirmed  consumption  and  that  of  the  most  rapid  and  alarming 
character.  She  was  now  confined  to  her  bed  and  rapidly  wasting  away. 
Early  in  the  spring  she  was  relieved  from  her  sufferings.  She  was  buried 
by  the  side  of  my  first  wife,  but  I  do  not  know  as  her  remains  were 
removed  to  the  new  cemetery,  as  there  was  no  stone  to  indicate  the  grave. 
This  was  a  severe  affliction  for  my  wife.  Having  grown  up  together  the 
two  sisters  were  strongly  devoted  to  each  other. 

[1820]  Very  little  worthy  of  record  occurred  this  year.  We  had 
frequent  changes  among  our  military  commanders.  First,  Capt. 
Bradley;  then  Major  Cunimings;  then  Major  Baker;  then  Col.  McNeil. 
James  Watson  Webb,6  afterwards  editor  of  the  New  York  Courier  & 
Enquirer,  and  a  man  of  prominence,  was  stationed  with  us  many  years. 

[1821]  Since  the  renewal  of  the  factory  here  the  trading  with  the 
Indians  had  hardly  been  sufficient  to  justify  its  continuance.  Many 
formerly  traded  at  this  point  who  now  having  bought  hunting  grounds 
more  remote  from  the  "  Chemokomans",  as  they  term  the  Americans, 
and  their  numbers  being  also  greatly  reduced  by  the  late  war,  it  has 
resulted  in  the  business  falling  off  more  than  one  half.  Under  these 
circumstances,  actuated  by  the  belief  that  the  factory  could  not  sustain 
itself,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  recommend  to  the  Superintendent  its 
discontinuance  or  removal  to  some  point  more  remote  from  the  settle- 
ments, and  named  St.  Peters  as  a  suitable  point.  Several  communica- 
tions passed  between  us  and  on  the  3Oth  of  October,  he  authorized  me 
to  close  the  establishment  and  remove  to  that  place  early  in  the 
coming  spring.  That  change  did  not  go  into  effect,  for  reasons  that  will 
appear. 

[Sept.  25,  1821]  Received  a  letter  from  brother  Joseph  announcing 
the  distressing  event  of  the  decease  of  both  father  and  brother  James  the 
same  day,  Sept.  1 1,  1821.  The  balance  of  the  year  passed  off  as  usual- 
trading  with  the  Indians  and  occasional  excursions  to  the  hunting 
grounds.  The  latter  part  of  the  year  I  was  winding  up  affairs  preparatory 
to  removal.  I  did  not  work  very  actively  however,  for  after  the  meeting 
of  Congress,  I  noticed  that  Col.  Benton  in  the  senate  made  a  furious 

6  The  last  two  officers  mentioned  in  this  list  were  noteworthy  men.  Col.  John  McNeil 
entered  the  army  in  1812  and  served  until  1830.  He  was  twice  brevetted  in  the  single  month 
of  July,  1814,  for  "distinguished  and  gallant  conduct"  in  the  battles  of  Chippewa  and  Niagara. 
Physically  he  shared  with  General  Scott  the  reputation  for  being  the  most  gigantic  man  in 
the  army.  He  was  commander  of  Fort  Dearborn  from  September,  1821,  until  June,  1823. 
His  wife  was  a  half-sister  of  President  Pierce. 

Varnum  overstated  the  service  of  James  Watson  Webb,  the  famous  editor  and  politician, 
at  Fort  Dearborn.  He  became  a  member  of  the  garrison  in  October,  1821,  and  was  transferred 
to  another  station  in  June  of  the  following  year. 


A  GOVERNMENT  FACTOR'S  JOURNAL  81 

attack  against  the  whole  matter  of  Indian  trading— representing  that  it 
benefited  no  one  but  those  engaged  in  carrying  it  on.7  He  denounced  it 
as  a  swindling  institution  and  that  the  agents  had  all  grown  rich,  while 
the  poor  Indian  had  been  swindled  out  of  his  hard  earned  productions. 
Such  a  tirade,  coming  from  an  old  senator,  who  living  near  the  Indian 
country,  was  supposed  to  know  more  than  any  one  else  in  Congress,  and 
denounced  with  all  the  energy  and  earnestness  of  his  character,  it  was 
easy  to  foresee  would  powerfully  influence  Congress  in  coming  to  a 
decision  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Benton  had  his  own  way.  It  was  not 
probable  that  one  in  ten  in  Congress  knew  much  about  an  obscure  system 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians,  inaugurated  long  before  a  large  portion  of 
the  members  were  elected.  He  debated  it  alone  and  of  course  carried  all 
measures,  one  of  which  was  so  absurd  as  to  require  a  new  set  of  agents  to 
relieve  the  old  ones  and  whose  duty  it  would  be  to  wind  up  the  concerns. 
The  effect  of  this  measure,  so  far  as  the  Chicago  factory  was  concerned, 
was  a  total  loss  of  all  the  government  property.  A.  B.  Lindsay,  a  hanger- 
on  about  the  offices  for  an  appointment  for  years,  obtained  the  situation 
and  arrived  out  about  Oct.  12  and  on  the  iyth  a  full  transfer  was  made  of 
all  the  property  in  my  charge.  After  remaining  as  long  in  Chicago  as 
his  instructions  would  permit  without  making  any  sale  or  collecting  the 
debts,  he  packed  all  the  goods  and  shipped  them  to  Detroit,  where  they 
were  again  offered  for  sale;  and  were  finally  auctioned  off  without  a 
guaranty  of  any  kind  as  to  payment.  They  sold  at  good  prices — the 
purchasers  not  intending  to  pay,  were  indifferent  as  to  the  prices  offered, 
and  what  was  foreseen  in  Detroit  no  satisfaction  of  value  was  received 
by  the  Govt.  and  Lindsay,  a  man  without  a  single  business  qualification, 
got  credit  for  the  prompt  and  satisfactory  manner  with  which  he  had 
closed  the  business  and  subsequently  received  an  appointment  in  the 
custom  service. 

[Aug.  1822]  Having  turned  over  all  the  factory  property  to  my 
successor,  and  my  wife  having  embarked  some  weeks  since  by  water 
around  to  Detroit,  my  mission  in  Chicago  was  ended,  and  in  company 
with  Lt.  Morris  and  guide,  I  left  for  a  second  journey  on  horseback  to 
Detroit,  intending  to  take  the  direct  route  thro'  the  woods.  [Aug.  17] 
we  encamped  about  9  P.  M.  at  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Calumet,  much 
fatigued.  [Aug.  18]  Made  an  early  start  and  after  a  hard  days  ride 
encamped  in  the  prairie  at  8  o'clock. 

[Aug.  19]  Arrived  at  St.  Joseph,  Ind.  at  n  A.  M.  The  horse  of 
our  guide  having  given  out,  he  did  not  come  up  until  after  noon.  So  we 

7  For  an  account  of  Benton's  attack  on   the  government   factory   system   see  Quaife, 
Chicago  and  the  Old  Northwest  (Chicago,  1913),  305-8. 


82  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

determined  to  go  ahead  alone  and  shape  our  course  toward  Ft.  Wayne, 
by  which  route  I  had  once  traveled,  I  felt  that  I  knew  the  way. 

[Aug.  20]  Arrived  at  Ft.  Wayne,  much  fatigued,  having  suffered 
intensely  from  the  heat  and  want  of  water. 

[Aug.  23]  Three  days  more  brought  us  to  Ft.  Meigs,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Maumee,  one  hundred  miles  beyond  Ft.  Wayne. 

[Aug.  26]    Reached  the  River  Raison,  (Michigan.) 

[Aug.  27]  Arrived  at  Detroit,  and  found  my  wife  well,  she  having 
come  around  by  water  in  June  and  reached  here  in  time  to  witness  the 
last  illness  and  death  of  her  mother.  In  about  a  week  she  was  taken  ill 
with  chills  and  fever.  [Sept.  19]  She  recovered  so  far  as  to  be  con- 
valescent, and  feeling  an  ardent  desire  to  visit  my  old  home  after  an 
absence  of  seven  years,  I  concluded  to  leave  her  with  her  friends 
until  her  health  should  be  fully  restored  and  return  for  her  in  the  spring. 
Accordingly  on  the  I9th  of  Sept.  I  took  schooner  for  Buffalo,  which  place 
I  reached  on  the  22nd,  and  Niagara  Falls  on  the  2jrd,  where  I  spent  two 
days  viewing  the  sublime  scenery — it  having  been  my  first  visit. 

[Sept.  24]  From  here  I  went  to  Lewiston,  there  taking  stage  to 
Auburn,  where  I  took  passage  on  a  canal  boat  to  Utica,  which  place  I 
reached  on  the  29th.  Here  taking  stage  again,  I  reached  Albany  the 
next  day.  There  I  at  once  took  the  Stmr.  Chancellor  Livingston, 
reaching  New  York  City  the  next  morning. 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  OF  THE 
NORTHWEST,  1817 

?FTER  a  short  stay  at  Green  Bay,  I  made  arrangements  with 
a  Fals  Avoins  [Menominee]  chief  to  conduct  me  as  a  guide  to 
the  Winebago  Lake;  from  whence  it  was  my  determination 
to  proceed  on  foot,  through  the  wilderness,  to  Chicago.  At 
mid-day  of  the  22d  of  September,  I  took  leave  of  Major  Taylor1  and  the 
officers  of  the  3d  Regiment,  who  had  most  kindly  entertained  me.  I 
likewise  took  a  reluctant  leave  of  my  excellent  companion,  Mr.  Pierce.* 
For  the  residue  of  the  day  my  course  lay  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
through  good  lands  and  a  growth  of  oak.  I  passed  two  springs  strongly 
impregnated  with  sulphur,  and  at  night  stopped  at  a  rapid  of  the  river 
called  Kakalin,  being  the  last  house  and  last  whites  I  expected  to  see 
for  the  distance  of  250  miles. 

On  the  23d  I  entered  the  wilderness,  attended  by  my  Indian  guide 
and  a  soldier  of  the  3d  Regiment,  who  led  a  pack-horse  loaded  with  provi- 
sions and  presents  for  the  natives.  We  forded  the  Fox  river,  and,  losing 
sight  of  it,  proceeded  in  a  westwardly  direction;  at  first  through  a  small 
Indian  path,  and,  on  that  failing  us,  through  a  wilderness  entirely 
trackless. 

The  journey  of  this  day  was  painful  and  uninteresting.  The  thick- 
ness of  the  forest  rendered  marching  difficult,  and  almost  entirely  im- 
peded the  horse;  but  for  exertions  in  assisting  him  over  crags,  and  cutting 
away  branches  and  saplings  with  our  tomahawks,  we  should  have  been 
obliged  to  abandon  him.  The  land  was  broken  with  hillocks  and  masses 
of  rock.  The  growth  of  timber  indicated  a  cold  soil,  notwithstanding 
which  we  occasionally  saw  the  sugar  maple.  At  night  we  lay  on  the 
ground.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  we  resumed  our  march,  extremely 
chilled.  The  thickness  of  the  forest  prevented  the  rays  of  the  sun  from 
coming  to  the  earth,  and  during  the  previous  night  the  guide  had  obliged 

'Zachary  Taylor,  later  president  of  the  United  States.  Almost  his  entire  life  was 
spent  in  the  army,  and  during  a  large  part  of  it  he  was  stationed  in  the  Northwest. 

1  Lieut.  John  S.  Pierce,  a  brother  of  President  Franklin  Pierce,  and  of  Capt.  Benjamin 
K .  Pierce,  whose  marriage  is  noted  in  Jacob  Varnum's  Journal. 


84  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

us  to  keep  small  fires  from  fear  of  the  Winebagoes,  who  were  about  us, 
and  from  whom  there  is  always  cause  for  apprehension. 

After  a  toilsome  march  of  eight  or  nine  hours,  we  arrived  abruptly 
at  the  shores  of  a  circular  lake,  which  I  found  to  be  Lake  Winebago.  I 
never  experienced  a  more  grateful  transition  than  from  the  damp  and 
tangled  wood  to  the  sunny  margin  of  this  beautiful  water.  It  is  nearly 
round,  and  apparently  about  sixty  miles  in  circumference.  For  a  short 
time  we  walked  upon  the  beach;  but  finding  it  too  narrow,  were  again 
obliged  to  resort  to  our  uncomfortable  way  through  the  thicket.  While 
upon  the  beach  I  remarked  that  the  number  of  primitive  rocks  was 
unusual  for  this  region.  Granite,  micaceous,  schistus,  quartz  pebbles, 
and  trap  were  mixed  with  unequal  proportions  of  secondary  limestone. 
On  the  upland,  the  formations  were  exclusively  of  limestone. 

My  intention  was  to  reach  an  Indian  village,  said  to  be  on  the 
southern  shore  of  the  lake.  Having  journeyed  all  day,  and  slept  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  previous  night,  we  resumed  our  march  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th.  A  melioration  of  the  grounds,  a  few  foot-paths  and 
traces  of  habitation,  denoted  that  we  were  near  the  object  of  our  destina- 
tion, and,  shortly  afterwards,  in  passing  from  a  wood,  we  saw  it  at  a 
distance.  It  was  a  village  of  Fals  Avoins,  situated  on  the  edge  of  a 
prairie  which  borders  Lake  Winebago.8  The  lake  lay  before  it  on  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  the  prairie,  rising  with  a  gentle  acclivity  from  the 
margin  of  the  water.  The  spot  was  well  chosen  for  beauty,  warmth,  and 
fertility.  There  was  nothing  about  it  that  indicated  a  recent  commence- 
ment. The  grounds  bore  marks  of  long  cultivation,  and  the  few  trees 
that  were  left  standing  seemed  as  if  distributed  for  ornament  and  shade. 
The  village  has  received  the  name  of  Calumet;  it  consists  of  about  150 
souls,  and  has  rarely  been  visited  by  whites,  except  a  few  voyageurs  on 
their  way  to  the  Ouisconsin. 

At  our  approach  the  villagers  poured  from  their  cabins,  and  gave  a 
general  shout,  from  the  unwonted  sight  (as  I  supposed)  of  a  white. 
Tomay,4  the  guide,  was  received  with  kindness,  and  his  introduction 
procured  what  I  supposed  to  be  the  same  for  myself.  But  as  their 
unrelaxing  features,  coldness  and  taciturnity,  would  indicate  anything 
rather  than  courtesy,  it  required  the  fullest  conviction  both  of  his  and 
their  intentions  to  enable  me  to  place  such  civility  to  its  proper  account. 
I  seated  myself  on  the  grass,  and  was  surrounded  by  the  whole  population 

*  The  village  was  on  the  east  shore  of  Lake  Winnebago,  a  few  miles  north  of  the  city  of 
modern  Fond  du  Lac. 

*Tomah  was  a  prominent  Menominee  chief  in  the  period  from  about  1775  until  his 
death  in  1817  or  1818.  He  was  friendly  to  the  Americans  during  most  of  his  career  but  in 
the  War  of  1812  he  sided  with  the  British,  and  remained  a  British  Indian  until  his  death. 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  85 

of  Calumet,  the  men  eyeing  me  with  contemptuous  indifference,  the 
females  and  children  with  a  restless  and  obtrusive  curiosity. 

The  distribution  of  tobacco  among  the  former,  and  vermillion,  salt, 
thread,  and  needles,  among  the  latter,  led  to  a  better  understanding,  and 
a  reciprocity  of  good  offices.  Tomay  was  to  leave  me  at  this  place  after 
furnishing  me  with  another  guide;  a  business  which  could  not  be  per- 
formed before  the  accomplishment  of  all  the  ceremonies  of  introduction. 
I  was  therefore  ushered  between  the  arms  of  two  dingy  brethren,  to  a 
small  lodge,  where  we  formed  a  circle,  smoked  out  of  the  same  pipe, 
which  went  the  rounds  from  mouth  to  mouth,  and  eat  from  a  large 
kettle  of  wild  rice  placed  in  the  midst  of  us.  Our  repast  was  made 
without  the  utterance  of  a  single  word,  and  I  know  not  how  long  the 
silence  and  uncomfortable  posture  in  which  I  sat  might  have  continued, 
had  I  not  made  signs  to  Tomay,  that  I  wished  to  make  a  general  visit  to 
the  lodges,  and  then  depart.  In  this  visit  I  found  nothing  more  than  I 
had  seen  among  nations  from  whom  I  had  expected  less.  Sloth,  filth, 
and  indifference  to  the  goods  or  ills  of  life,  form  the  same  characteristics 
of  the  remote  Indians,  as  of  those  nearer  to  us.  The  similarity  of  traits 
is  radical;  disparity  of  situation  makes  but  accidental  shades.  Necessity 
gives  to  the  foresters  an  energy,  which  contact  with  the  whites  takes 
from  the  lower  tribes.  They  present  fewer  instances  of  helplessness, 
petty  vices,  and  premature  decay  from  intemperance;  but  substitute  in 
their  stead  the  grosser  and  more  unrelenting  features  of  barbarism. 

In  the  different  cabins,  the  right  of  proprietorship  seems  well  under- 
stood, but  in  none  were  there  more  goods  than  were  requisite  for  im- 
mediate use;  and  such  food  as  did  not  serve  for  the  day,  was  generally 
trampled  under  foot.  They  seemed  affectionate  to  their  children,  who 
were  to  a  peculiar  degree  sprightly  and  handsome.  The  younger  women 
possess  good  features,  but  wither  at  an  early  age,  from  the  smoke  of  the 
cabins  and  hard  labor  in  the  fields. 

While  I  had  been  feasting  in  the  lodge,  my  man  had  received  food 
in  the  field,  where  he  sat  an  object  of  the  wonder  of  all  the  children  of  the 
village.  Tomay  had  procured  me  two  guides,  no  one  being  willing  to 
undertake  the  task  alone,  from  fear  of  the  Winebagoes.  I  now  prepared 
to  depart,  and  endured  the  too  affectionate  embrace  of  Tomay  and  a 
large  portion  of  his  tribe;  the  black  and  red  testimonials  of  which  were 
left  on  my  cheek.  After  this  operation,  from  which  the  sisterhood  were 
excluded,  I  departed  with  my  two  guides  and  attendant,  amidst  the 
shouts  of  the  village. 

My  course  was  now  for  Chicago.  The  soldier  who  was  with  me  had 
a  trifling  knowledge  of  some  of  the  Indian  languages,  but  not  sufficient 


86  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

to  procure  an  explanation  of  the  sort  of  country  we  were  to  find,  or  the 
difficulties  we  had  to  encounter;  we  therefore  looked  to  our  Indian 
companions  for  nothing,  relying  solely  on  our  own  strength  and  persever- 
ance to  carry  us  through  the  unknown  region.  The  first  direction  was 
southwardly,  for  about  four  miles,  over  a  fertile  prairie,  occasionally 
shaded  by  a  small  growth  of  oak;  passing  this,  we  inclined  towards  the 
west,  and,  after  traversing  a  swamp,  entered  an  extensive  prairie,  low 
and  without  trees,  but  bearing  a  luxuriant  growth  of  grass  of  an  average 
height  of  five  feet.  On  the  north  it  bordered  the  Winebago  Lake,  and 
on  every  other  side  was  fringed  with  forests  appearing  on  the  edge  of  the 
horizon.  At  a  late  hour  we  reached  higher  ground,  where  we  slept. 
Since  leaving  the  village  we  had  passed  several  cabins,  and  many  Indians 
of  a  singular  and  grotesque  appearance,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows. 

On  the  26th,  having  left  the  low  prairie,  we  traversed  a  more  elevated 
tract,  distributed  in  gentle  undulations;  from  the  summits  of  which  I 
could  see  grounds  of  the  same  character  extending  in  every  direction. 
There  were  no  forests  nor  any  undergrowth,  more  than  a  low  shrubbery. 
The  immense  park,  for  it  bore  that  appearance,  was  beautified  by  a 
growth  of  oak,  occasionally  single,  and  sometimes  in  groups,  as  if  planted 
by  art.  I  could  scarcely  imagine  that  a  distribution,  so  consonant  to  the 
laws  of  taste,  could  have  been  made  without  the  agency  of  man.  At 
about  mid-day  the  face  of  the  country  changed  to  a  lower  and  wet  soil, 
which  continued  for  the  distance  of  four  or  five  miles,  when  it  gave  place 
again  to  one  higher  and  better;  watered,  (although  inadequately)  with 
small  rivulets,  and  covered  with  white  and  red  oak,  and  sometimes 
hickory.  The  white  oaks  were  of  the  largest  size.  In  the  afternoon  I 
arrived  at  the  banks  of  a  shallow,  sluggish  stream,  about  fifty  yards 
in  width,  running  towards  the  southeast.  The  fine  tract  I  had  passed 
in  the  early  part  of  the  day,  was  badly  watered.  From  four  o'clock  of 
the  preceding  day  to  one  of  the  present,  I  met  no  signs  of  water,  not 
even  the  smallest  brook. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th,*  I  found  a  severe  frost.  At  about  ten 
o'clock,  after  having  passed  grounds  inferior  to  those  of  yesterday, 
came  to  a  small  and  handsome  body  of  water,  about  eight  miles  in  cir- 
cumference; shortly  after,  to  a  second,  of  about  three  miles;  after  that, 
to  a  third,  of  about  five  miles  in  circumference.  I  remained  for  some 
time  to  admire  the  beauty  of  these  sequestered  waters.  Their  stillness 

*  There  was  no  water  where  we  lay.  The  ground  being  swampy,  we  dug  a  large  hole  with 
our  tomahawks  and  it  was  soon  filled.  But  although  this  spot  was  but  one  hundred  yards 
distant  from  the  fire,  neither  of  the  Indians  would  go  to  it  alone.  They  frequently  during 
the  night  put  their  ears  to  the  ground,  as  if  to  listen  for  noises. 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  87 

was  disturbed  only  by  the  wild  fowl,  that  were  too  little  accustomed  to 
the  sight  of  man  to  heed  my  approach.  The  lands  shortly  became 
better,  and  more  abundantly  wooded  and  watered  than  those  of  yester- 
day; the  white  oak  being  the  largest  I  had  ever  seen.  The  country  may 
be  said  to  be  without  rocks,  the  few  I  had  seen  during  the  two  last  days 
were  detached,  and  of  granite.  The  march  of  the  present  day  had  been 
more  interesting  than  that  of  the  day  preceding,  being  relieved  from  the 
sameness  of  the  Prairies  by  occasional  forests.  In  passing  from  the 
latter  into  the  former,  I  realized  the  effect  of  what  Denon  describes  on 
the  plains  of  Egypt  under  the  name  of  mirage.  The  thickets  do  not 
cease  gradually,  but  change  abruptly  from  forest  into  glade,  so  as  to 
present  to  the  traveler  the  atmosphere  above  the  distant  meadow  in 
the  certain  shape  and  appearance  of  water.  The  illusion  was  many 
times  so  perfect  as  to  convince  me,  that  on  leaving  the  wood  that  was 
about  me,  I  should  be  led  to  the  margin  of  some  great  lake  of  which  I 
had  before  received  no  account.  The  Indians  were  equally  deceived, 
and  finding  the  error,  by  seeing  the  wood  skirted  by  land  instead  of 
water,  cried  out,  "Manitou"  (Devil) — imputing  the  optical  illusion  to 
the  agency  of  a  spirit. 

Throughout  the  day  the  course  had  been  southeast.  I  supposed 
myself  to  be  not  far  distant  from  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Lake  Michigan;  knowing  that  the  elevation  was  not  very 
remote  from  the  lake  itself.  Some  of  the  Prairies  bore  the  appearance 
of  having  become  so  by  art.  At  night  I  slept  in  one,  which  was  a  per- 
fectly formed  parallelogram  of  about  900  yards  by  500. 

We  recommenced  our  march  at  sunrise  of  the  28th.  The  guides, 
who  during  part  of  the  preceding  day,  had  been  sullen  and  silent,  seemed 
now  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  way,  and  were  leading  toward  the  north- 
east. I  refused  to  follow  them,  and  after  a  fruitless  and  vexatious 
attempt  to  understand  each  other,  or  know  if  they  understood  the  way, 
I  insisted  upon  their  leaving  me;  which  they  did  after  a  long  and  unin- 
telligible altercation.  I  should  not  have  resorted  to  this  measure,  which 
left  me  alone  in  the  wilderness,  had  I  not  been  convinced  that  a  day's 
march  properly  directed  would  bring  me  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
or  the  River  Millewackie  where  there  are  large  settlements  of  Potto- 
wotomies;  but  by  following  them  I  might  be  led,  I  knew  not  where. 
Of  their  worthlessness  I  had  been  already  convinced.  My  attendant 
and  myself,  being  now  left  alone,  pursued  an  eastwardly  direction  by 
the  compass,  to  endeavor  to  reach  the  shores  of  the  lake.  In  the  after- 
noon we  saw  a  track  leading  towards  the  southward.  We  followed  it, 


88  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

and,  finding  to  our  joy  that  it  widened,*  continued  in  it  until  towards 
evening,  when  I  caught  from  an  eminence  a  distant  view  of  a  great 
water  which  I  supposed  to  be  Lake  Michigan.  On  nearer  approach, 
I  perceived  a  river,  and  Indian  village;  the  coincidence  of  which  con- 
vinced me  that  I  had  reached  the  Millewackie,  at  the  confluence  with 
the  kke. 

On  the  morning  of  the  igth,  I  entered  the  village  which  belongs  to 
the  tribe  of  Pottowotomies.  It  is  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river, 
which  I  crossed  to  reach  it.  I  had  probably  been  near  to  the  river  itself 
during  the  course  of  the  preceding  day.  From  its  outlet  it  lies,  for 
about  fifteen  miles,  parallel  to  the  lake,  when  it  makes  an  angle,  and  may 
be  traced  due  westward,  about  thirty-five  miles,  to  its  source,  which  is 
within  two  miles  of  the  Riviere  a  la  Roche,  a  most  valuable  stream, 
emptying  into  the  Mississippi.  Near  to  its  confluence  with  the  lake,  the 
Millewackie  is  augmented  by  a  small  stream  called  the  Monomoni, 
notwithstanding  which,  it  does  not  retain  the  depth  of  its  channel. 
The  sands  of  the  lake  form  a  bar  across  the  mouth,  over  which  there 
are  not  more  than  two  feet  of  water.  The  soil  is  good,  and  the  climate 
much  softer  than  that  of  Green  Bay. 

The  Pottowotomy  village  is  small;  their  chief,  whose  name  in  English 
is  Old  Flour,  brought  me  an  Indian  who  was  on  his  way  to  Chicago, 
and  might  serve  me  as  a  guide  thither.  At  mid-day  I  proceeded  on  my 
route,  the  first  course  of  which  was  southwestwardly,  and  led  over 
grounds  which  for  several  miles  were  low  and  swampy.  I  had  been 
given  to  understand  that  I  should  arrive  before  night  at  a  river  called 
Schipicoten;  but  after  attempting  in  vain  to  reach  the  river,  or  disen- 
tangle ourselves  from  the  swamp,  we  were  obliged  to  remain  in  it  during 
the  night,  and  resumed  the  march  on  the  morning  of  the  joth.  A  few 
miles  brought  us  to  the  margin  of  a  dark  and  sluggish  stream,  which  I 
supposed  to  be  the  Schipicoten  [Root  River].  It  proved  too  deep  to  be 
forded,  and,  finding  no  materials  to  construct  a  raft,  we  were  obliged, 
cold  and  comfortless  as  it  was,  to  cross  it  by  swimming.  Shortly  after 
leaving  the  river  we  entered  a  prairie  on  which  we  remained  throughout 
the  day.  It  afforded  no  varieties.  There  were  no  rocks,  nor  more 
shrubbery  than  to  afford  a  slender  pasturage.  A  small  growth  of  oak 
was  sometimes  grouped  in  a  picturesque  manner.  The  grounds  were 
undulated  like  those  we  had  passed;  but  that  which  was  grateful,  even 
delightful,  at  first  glance,  became  tedious  under  so  long  a  continuance. 

*  In  the  side  of  the  path  we  saw  a  small  stone  idol,  which  convinced  me  that  we  were  near 
to  some  encampment. 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  89 

From  leaving  the  Schipicoten  in  the  morning,  until  sunset,  I  passed 
no  water,  nor  anything  that  indicated  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  October  I  found  a  severe  frost.  On 
this  day  I  expected  again  to  see  the  lake;  and,  after  a  distance  of  eight 
or  ten  miles,  heard  the  sound  of  the  waves  on  the  beach.  We  reached 
it  in  the  forenoon,  and  from  indications  supposed  ourselves  to  be  not 
more  than  a  day's  march  from  Chicago,  our  course  to  which  for  the 
remaining  distance  lay  on  the  beach.  During  this  day  I  observed  that 
none  of  the  streams  which  water  the  prairies  make  a  visible  entrance 
into  the  lake.  Being  small,  and  running  with  scarcely  sufficient  rapidity 
to  overcome  the  resistance  of  their  banks,  they  are  unable  to  penetrate 
the  bed  of  sand  which  borders  the  lake,  but  sink  into  the  ground  and 

deposit   themselves  underneath. 

**  *  *  *  *  *  *  6 

On  the  2d  of  October,  after  walking  for  three  or  four  hours,  I  reached 
the  river  Chicago,  and,  after  crossing  it,  entered  Fort  Dearborn,  where  I 
was  kindly  entertained  by  Major  Baker  and  the  officers  of  the  garrison, 
who  received  me  as  one  arrived  from  the  moon.  At  Chicago  I  perceived 
I  was  in  a  better  country.  It  had  become  so  by  gradual  melioration. 
That  which  I  had  left  was  of  a  character  far  above  mediocrity,  but 
labors  under  the  permanent  defects  of  coldness  of  soil  and  want  of  mois- 
ture. The  native  strength  of  it  is  indicated  by  the  growth  of  timber, 
which  is  almost  entirely  of  white  oak  and  beech,  without  pine,  chestnut, 
maple,  ash,  or  any  kind  which  denotes  warmth.  The  country  suffers 
at  the  same  time  from  water  and  from  the  want  of  it.  The  deficiency 
of  circulation,  not  of  water  itself,  produces  this  contradiction.  It  is 
not  sufficiently  uneven  to  form  brooks  to  lead  off  its  redundant  rains 
and  form  a  deposit  for  mid-summer.  The  snows  of  winter  dissolve  and 
remain  on  the  ground  until  exhaled  by  the  sun  at  a  late  period  of  spring. 
In  prairies  that  are  entirely  level  this  produces  a  cold  which  is  scarcely 
dissipated  by  the  heat  of  summer;  in  such  as  are  undulated,  it  renders 
one-half  (that  on  which  the  water  rests)  useless,  or  of  inferior  value. 
It  must  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  this  region  is  not  to  undergo  the 
changes  incident  to  new  countries  generally,  from  the  thinning  of  forests 
and  exposure  of  the  soil.  It  is  already  on  the  footing  of  the  oldest,  and 
has  received  for  the  lapse  of  ages  all  the  heat  it  is  ever  to  derive  from  the 
sun  alone.  At  some  remotely  future  period,  when  a  dense  population 
enables  the  husbandman  to  apply  artificial  warmth  to  his  grounds, 

5  At  this  point  in  the  narrative  the  author  digresses  from  the  subject  of  his  journey 
to  indulge  in  a  somewhat  lengthy  discussion  of  the  civil  polity  and  morals  of  the  Indians; 
this  discussion  we  omit  to  print. 


9O  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

means  of  life  may  be  extracted  from  this  soil  which  are  latent  at  present. 
It  requires  industry,  and  is  capable  of  repaying  it. 

The  river  Chicago  (or,  in  English,  Wild  Onion  River)  is  deep  and 
about  forty  yards  in  width.  Before  it  enters  the  lake,  its  two  branches 
unite — the  one  proceeding  from  the  north,  the  other  from  the  west, 
where  it  takes  its  rise  in  the  very  fountain  of  the  Plein,  or  Illinois,  which 
flows  in  an  opposite  direction.  The  source  of  these  two  rivers  illustrates 
the  geographical  phenomenon  of  a  reservoir  on  the  very  summit  of  a 
dividing  ridge.  In  the  autumn,  they  are  both  without  any  apparent 
fountain,  but  are  formed  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  each  other  by  some 
imperceptible  undulations  of  the  Prairie,  which  drain  it  and  lead  to  dif- 
ferent directions.  But  in  the  spring,  the  space  between  the  two  is  a 
single  sheet  of  water,  the  common  reservoir  of  both,  in  the  center  of 
which  there  is  no  current  towards  either  of  the  opposite  streams.  This 
circumstance  creates  the  singular  fact  of  the  insulation  of  all  the  United 
States  excepting  Louisiana,  making  the  circumnavigation  of  them  prac- 
ticable, from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  that  of  Mexico,  with  the  single 
hindrance  of  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 

The  Chicago  forms  a  third  partition  of  the  great  country  I  had 
passed.  The  Ouisconsin  and  Fox  rivers  make  a  water  communication 
between  the  Mississippi  and  Michigan,  with  the  exception  of  four  miles. 
The  Millewackie  and  River  a  la  Roche  the  same,  with  half  the  exception. 
The  Chicago  and  De  Plein  make,  in  the  manner  I  have  described,  the 
communication  entire.  This  latter  should  not  escape  national  atten- 
tion. The  ground  between  the  two  is  without  rocks,  and,  with  little 
labor,  would  admit  of  a  permanent  connection  between  the  waters  of 
the  Illinois  and  Michigan. 

The  site  and  relations  of  Fort  Dearborn  I  have  already  explained. 
It  has  no  advantage  of  harbor,  the  river  itself  being  always  choked,  and 
frequently  barred,  from  the  same  causes  that  I  have  imputed  to  the 
other  streams  of  this  country.  In  the  rear  of  the  fort  is  a  prairie  of  the 
most  complete  flatness,  no  signs  of  elevation  being  within  the  range  of 
the  eye.  The  soil  and  climate  are  both  excellent.  Traces  yet  remain 
of  the  devastation  and  massacre  committed  by  the  savages  in  1812. 
I  saw  one  of  the  principal  perpetrators  (Nes-cot-no-meg). 

On  the  4th  of  October  I  left  Chicago  for  Fort  Wayne,  having  pro- 
vided less  uncomfortable  means  of  traveling  than  for  the  ten  previous 
days.  Our  course  was  to  lay  for  about  sixty  miles  on  the  beach  of 
Lake  Michigan,  from  thence  inclining  eastwardly  to  the  St.  Joseph's 
of  the  Lake,  and  thence  due  south  to  the  Miami  of  Lake  Erie.  On  the 
night  of  the  4th,  I  slept  on  the  beach,  after  having  forded  the  little 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  91 

Kennomick.  I  call  it  after  the  Indian  pronunciation — Calumet  is 
probably  the  name.  On  our  right  lay  an  extent  of  flat  prairie,  extending, 
as  I  supposed,  to  the  Illinois. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th,  we  resumed  our  way  upon  a  smooth 
and  level  beach;  at  n  o'clock,  supposed  ourselves  to  be  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  Lake  Michigan;  shortly  afterwards  crossed  the  greater 
Kennomick.  The  guide  informed  me  that  the  shores  on  our  right  were 
flat  and  wet.  I  noticed  on  the  beach  many  specimens  of  iron  pyrites, 
and  was  inclined,  although  incorrectly,  to  imagine,  from  the  decrease 
of  limestone,  and  the  appearance  in  its  stead  of  substances  of  more 
remote  formation,  that  the  region  was  not  the  same  with  that  I  had  left. 
Shortly  after  sunset  we  reached  and  crossed  the  River  Du  Chemin,  at 
which  place  we  were  to  leave  the  lake.  We  slept  on  the  border  of  it, 
and  the  next  day  resumed  our  way.  We  at  first  passed  a  long  and  in- 
tricate swamp,  which  gave  me  no  favourable  impression  of  the  country 
I  was  about  to  enter;  on  leaving  it,  however,  we  were  led  into  lands 
which  were  well  wooded  and  watered,  and  bore  every  indication  of 
warmth  and  fertility.  The  growth  of  beech  had  disappeared,  and  the 
oaks  were  intermixed  with  a  proportion  of  walnut,  chestnut,  sugar  maple, 
and  ash.  At  noon,  after  ascending  a  gradual  eminence,  we  were  led  into 
an  extensive  prairie,  scattered  over  which  were  several  Pottowotomy 
villages.  Leaving  these  villages  we  entered  another  Prairie  of  a  different 
description,  level  and  without  trees,  but  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  grass.  After  this  we  again  entered  higher  ground,  and,  at  a  late  hour 
of  the  evening,  reached  (drenched  in  rain)  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph's. 

The  morning  of  the  seventh  presented  the  river  St.  Joseph  and  its 
beautiful  and  picturesque  borders.  Every  beauty  of  scenery,  that  could 
satisfy  the  eye  or  the  imagination,  I  found  in  the  journey  of  this  day. 
For  eight  or  ten  miles  we  were  on  the  margin  of  the  river,  every  winding 
of  which  developed  some  new  attraction.  The  stream  itself,  and  its 
many  rivulets,  had  furrowed  deep  beds,  which  left  the  adjacent  lands 
high,  and  moistened  by  waters  that  were  never  stagnant.  The  grounds 
were  neither  prairie  nor  forest,  but  a  grateful  alternation  of  opening  and 
shade.  The  trees  consisted  principally  of  oak,  hickory,  chestnut,  elm, 
and  walnut;  the  meadows  were  covered  with  deep  shrubbery,  which, 
from  the  season,  had  just  ceased  to  be  verdant;  the  small  streams  were 
bordered  with  a  thick  and  strong  sedge.  Throughout  the  day  there 
appeared  little  or  no  waste  land;  every  part  giving  equal  indication  of 
warmth  and  fertility.  I  noticed  but  few  rocks,  and  those  of  granite. 
At  sunset  we  reached  the  Elk's-heart  (a  tributary  river  of  the  St.  Joseph), 
and  slept  on  the  bank  of  it.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighth,  the  lands 


92.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

were  of  nearly  the  same  description  as  those  of  the  preceding  day. 
After  traveling  eight  or  ten  miles  they  changed  to  a  soil  of  inferior 
character,  low  and  swampy;  towards  the  afternoon  they  became  better. 

If  my  conjectures  were  correct,  we  were  during  this  day  on  the 
highest  plain  in  the  United  States,  perhaps  in  the  world;  proved  to  be 
so  by  the  contiguity  of  the  sources  of  the  following  great  rivers,  which 
diverge  from  nearly  a  common  center  to  every  point  of  the  compass: 
The  greater  St.  Joseph's  leading  north  into  Lake  Michigan,  was  behind 
me;  the  headwaters  of  the  Wabash,  which  runs  south,  lay  before  me; 
the  Kienkiki  (properly  called  Theakiki)  leading  west  into  the  Illinois, 
on  the  right;  and  the  lesser  St.  Joseph's,  tending  to  the  Miami  of  the 
Lake,  equi-distant  on  the  left.  The  altitude  is  proved  by  the  remoteness 
of  the  regions  visited  by  each  one  of  these  noble  rivers,  before  it  blends 
itself  with  the  ocean.  No  one  of  them  performs  a  journey  of  less  than 
2,000  miles,  of  gradual  descent,  and  often  with  the  augmentation  of 
streams,  that  proceed  from  the  most  remote  and  unexplored  distances. 
There  was  nothing  that  denoted  the  elevation  or  afforded  a  visible 
conviction,  that  I  was  treading  a  loftier  region  than  any  part  of  the 
horizon  to  which  I  turned  my  eyes.  Thinking  involuntarily  that  so 
interesting  a  spot  could  not  be  without  productions  to  designate  its 
peculiarity,  I  looked  instinctively  for  some  shrub,  stone,  or  flower  that 
might  bear  the  character  of  the  spot  where  it  lay.  There  was  nothing, 
but  my  own  reflections,  to  denote  that  I  was  in  the  heart  of  the  country, 
its  grand  arteries  pouring  in  every  direction. 

On  the  early  part  of  the  pth  passed  several  small  ponds  and  much 
stagnant  water.  There  were  few  prairies,  the  country  thickly  and  well 
covered,  notwithstanding  which  we  passed  several  swamps.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  day  the  lands  became  better;  in  the  afternoon  passed 
several  small  streams  setting  towards  the  southeast,  and  before  evening 
reached  the  St.  Mary's,  which,  with  the  St.  Joseph's,  forms  the  Miami 
of  the  Lake.  At  sunset  I  descried  and  reached  Fort  Wayne. 

The  nature  of  the  country  I  have  just  passed,  and  the  facilities  of 
communication  afforded  by  it,  enhance  the  importance  which  I  had 
already  ascribed  to  Chicago.  Its  being  at  the  head  of  a  probable  con- 
nection between  the  Illinois  and  [Lake]  Michigan,  its  remoteness  from 
any  dangerous  neighbor,  and  its  facility  of  deriving  resources  from  the 
Miami  of  the  Lake,  the  Wabash,  and  the  fertile  interior  of  Indiana, 
mark  it  as  the  future  place  of  deposit  for  the  whole  region  of  the  Upper 
Lakes.  The  war  or  peace  of  this  immense  district  has  been  hitherto 
dependent  for  supplies  on  Detroit,  which,  without  any  one  natural 


JUDGE  STORROW'S  TOUR  93 

advantage,  labors  under  the  defects  of  contiguity  to  a  foreign  power, 
and  a  tardiness  of  water  communication,  which  labor  can  scarcely 
surmount. 

Between  the  two  extremities,  Forts  Dearborn  and  Wayne,  the 
facilities  of  communication  yield  to  those  of  no  other  part  of  the  United 
States.  From  the  latter  to  a  spot  on  the  greater  St.  Joseph's  (forty 
miles  in  the  interior),  there  is  an  easy  and  expeditious  water  carriage; 
from  thence  there  are  forty  miles  where  no  efforts  of  art  are  required, 
the  lands  being  high,  open,  and  dry  throughout  the  year;  for  the  remain- 
ing sixty,  the  labors  of  a  captain's  command  might,  in  a  single  month, 
establish  permanent  means  of  transportation  for  every  warlike  or  com- 
mercial supply.  At  the  end  of  this  distance,  Fort  Wayne  might  collect, 
as  an  entrepot,  whatever  could  be  drawn  from  the  interior  of  the  states 
of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  through  the  waters  of  the  Miami  of  the  Lake  or 
the  Wabash. 

The  country  between  Lake  Michigan  and  Fort  Wayne  is  intrin- 
sically capable  of  any  product,  and  of  sustaining  the  most  dense  popu- 
lation. As  it  requires  only  an  outlet  to  call  its  resources  into  action, 
it  is  for  the  present  dependent  on  that  great  undertaking,6  the  honor  of 
which  is  about  to  be  taken  from  the  United  States  by  the  single  energy 
of  the  state  of  New  York.  The  occurrence  of  this  important  event  will 
give  it  impulse,  population,  and  resource,  and,  what  is  still  more  desir- 
able, a  blended  interest  with  the  other  States. 

•The  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  begun  in  the  year  of  Storrow's  tour,  1817,  and 
completed  in  1825. 


MRS.  BAIRD'S  EXCURSION  TO 
CHICAGO,  1817 

N  the  fall  of  1815,  Madame  Marie  Chandon6e,  nie  Chapoton, 
with  her  infant  son,  left  Detroit  to  join  her  husband,  Jean 
B.  Chandonee,1  in  Chicago.  When  she  reached  Mackinac, 
jiBS^l  her  child  was  too  ill  to  travel  farther;  and  when  he  recovered, 
it  was  too  late  that  season  to  resume  the  journey.  Although  it  was 
only  October,  no  vessel  would  brave  the  autumnal  storms,  and  there 
was  no  alternative  for  Mme.  Chandon6e  but  to  make  Mackinac  her 
home  for  the  winter  with  her  husband's  aunt,  Mme.  Theiese  Schindler. 
Spring  came  and  went,  and  not  until  the  middle  or  last  of  June,  1816, 
did  the  first  vessel  present  itself  for  this  route.  Then  Mme.  Chandon6e, 
with  her  little  one,  accompanied  by  my  mother  and  me,  embarked  again 
for  Chicago.  The  vessel  had  the  then  familiar  load  of  pork,  flour,  and  but- 
ter. I  know  not  how  long  she  was  in  going  or  coming;  I  only  know  she  was 
one  month  making  the  round  trip,  which  was  thought  to  be  doing  well. 

There  were  no  ports  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  Michigan,  at  which 
to  stop.  But  when  we  reached  Chicago,  there  was  considerable  delay 
in  getting  into  the  river.  It  was  a  very  narrow  stream,  with  high  banks 
of  white  sand.  Not  far  up  the  river,  stood  Fort  Dearborn,  only  a  few 
rods  from  the  water's  edge.  Directly  opposite  the  fort  was  the  Kinzie 
homestead,  with  all  its  comforts.  The  house  was  a  large,  one-story 
building,  with  an  exceptionally  high  attic.  The  front  door  opened  into 
a  wide  hall,  that  hospitably  led  into  the  kitchen,  which  was  spacious 
and  bright,  made  so  by  the  large  fire-place.  Four  rooms  opened  into 
the  hall,  two  on  each  side,  and  the  upper  story  contained  four  rooms. 
The  fare  of  that  house  was  all  an  epicure  of  the  present  day  could  desire, 

1  Jean  Baptiste  Chandonnais,  a  half-breed,  had  been  at  Chicago  prior  to  the  War  of 
1812.  He  was  present  at  the  Fort  Dearborn  massacre,  where  his  affiliation  both  with  the 
Indians  and  with  John  Kinzie  sufficed  to  preserve  him  from  danger.  At  its  conclusion  he 
exerted  his  influence  in  behalf  of  Mrs.  Heald,  wife  of  the  defeated  commander,  for  which  the 
Heald  family  ever  after  held  him  in  grateful  remembrance.  He  sided  with  the  American 
cause  in  the  war,  and  slew  his  own  uncle,  a  British  adherent,  in  the  course  of  an  altercation 
which  grew  put  of  the  international  conflict.  For  this  and  other  activities  the  British  put  a 
price  upon  his  head.  Chandonnais  seems  to  have  made  Chicago  his  headquarters  for  a  number 
of  years  after  the  return  of  the  garrison  in  1816,  and  to  have  engaged  to  some  extent  in  the 
Indian  trade. 


96  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

including  game  and  fish  of  all  sorts;  and  then  the  cooking  was  done  by 
open  fire-place,  in  its  best  style. 

We  were  entertained  by  the  hospitable  inmates  of  this  pleasant 
home,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kinzie  (father  and  mother  of  John  H.)  being  old 
friends  of  my  mother.  Mme.  Chandonee  was  a  stranger  to  the  family; 
but  her  husband  was  an  inmate  of  the  household,  being  there  in  employ 
of  the  government.  The  establishment  consisted  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kinzie,  two  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  the  men  and  women  retainers, 
who  seemed  to  be  many.  This  home,  the  garrison,  and  the  home  of 
Jean  Baptist  Beaubien,2  were  all  there  was  of  Chicago  at  that  time. 

The  only  way  of  crossing  the  river  was  by  a  wooden  canoe  or  dug- 
out. My  mother,  who  feared  the  water  very  much,  forbade  me  crossing 
over.  The  Kinzie  children  were  so  accustomed  to  this  mode  of  crossing, 
going  whenever  they  wished,  that  without  realizing  my  mother's  fears 
they  took  me  over  with  them,  and  I  recall  to  this  day  the  pleasure  the 
dug-out  gave  me.  The  sailors  were  a  little  girl  about  ten  years  of  age, 
and  a  boy  of  eight.  With  such  a  crew  did  I  first  cross  Chicago  river 
in  1816.  The  other  amusements  the  surroundings  offered,  were  the 
walks  and  tumbles  about  the  sand  hills. 

My  mother  had  an  old  acquaintance  (a  beautiful  woman,  who  Was 
married  at  Mackinac),  the  invalid  wife  of  an  officer  at  Fort  Dearborn.3 
She  was  a  Miss  Aiken,  one  of  the  five  daughters  of  a  Mrs.  Aiken  of 
Montreal,  nearly  all  of  whom  married  army  officers ;  Mrs.  Aiken  was  a 
sister  of  Mrs.  Michael  Dousman,  of  Prairie  du  Chien. 

Mrs.  Kinzie  had  a  daughter  by  a  former  husband,  who  was  married 
to  a  man  named  Helms.4  Their  home  was  at  some  distance,  on  the  fort 
side  of  the  river,  and  once  my  mother  went  to  see  this  friend.  The 
walk  thither  was  quite  long  for  the  children.  On  our  arrival  we  found 
a  little  square  house,  with  no  floor,  but  tarpaulin  spread  down  in  lieu 
of  it.  Tarpaulin  was  also  hung  about  the  walls.  The  writer  wonders 
where  to-day  in  all  that  vast  city,  is  the  site  of  that  humble  home!  In 
after  years,  Mrs.  Helms,  then  a  widow,  went  to  Fort  Winnebago  to  make 
her  home  there  with  her  brother,  John  H.  Kinzie,  who  was  Indian  agent 
at  that  post.  She  was,  I  think,  the  first  white  woman  who  traveled 

2  Jean  Baptiste  Beaubien  was  long  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade  at  Chicago.     For  a 
period  of  twenty  years  or  more  following  the  building  of  the  second  Fort  Dearborn  he  was  a 
prominent  resident  of  the  place.     The  Beaubien  family  still  has  representatives  in  Chicago, 
a  niece  of  Jean  Baptiste,  Mrs.  Emily  Lebeau  (referred  to  in  the  preface),  being  undoubtedly 
the  oldest  living  resident  of  the  city. 

3  Jacob  B.  Varnum,  government  factor,  whose  narrative  is  included  in  this  chapter. 
4Linai  T.  Helm,  a  lieutenant  of  the  Fort  Dearborn  garrison  at  "the  time  of  the  massacre 

in  1812.  Mrs.  Helm  was  the  heroine  of  the  Black  Partridge  rescue  story,  which  furnishes  the 
dominant  theme  of  the  massacre  monument  at  the  foot  of  Eighteenth  Street. 


MRS.  BAIRD'S  EXCURSION  TO  CHICAGO  97 

from  Fort  Winnebago  to  Green  Bay  on  horseback.  She  made  the 
journey  in  the  winter  of  1833,  and  wore  a  mask  to  protect  her  face. 
She  afterwards  married  Dr.  Abbott,  of  the  regular  army. 

We  remained  in  Chicago  for  some  time,  the  vessel  master  seeking 
for  a  cargo  which  was  not  secured.  It  was  too  early  for  furs,  so  finally 
the  vessel  had  to  take  on  a  ballast  of  gravel  and  sand.  Beside  ourselves, 
the  party  who  took  passage  on  this  vessel,  were  Major  Baker,  and  his 
wife  and  daughter.  The  Major  was  then  on  his  way  to  Green  Bay  to 
take  command  of  Camp  Smith.  The  daughter  was  an  invalid,  and  had 
what  is  commonly  called  "fits."  She  was  seized  with  one  in  the  cabin 
while  I  sat  by  her;  and  such  an  impression  did  her  fright  make  that  I 
have  never  forgotten  Miss  Jerusha  Baker. 

Pursuing  our  journey  northward,  we  coasted  along  the  east  side  of 
the  lake,  stopping  where  we  could,  to  secure  if  possible  a  cargo;  but 
failing,  arrived  at  Mackinac  with  the  same  ballast  with  which  we  started 
from  Chicago.  One  of  the  sailors  was  a  colored  man,  who  was  uncom- 
monly kind  to  me.  One  great  amusement  for  me  during  the  long  trip, 
was  hunting  for  shells  in  the  sand  in  the  hold  of  the  vessel.  This  sailor 
would  take  me  down,  and  while  I  played,  sit  by  and  mend  his  clothes, 
talking  all  the  while  to  me,  and  I  not  understanding  a  word,  as  he  spoke 
English,  and  I  only  French. 

The  day  before  the  vessel  arrived  at  Mackinac  a  storm  came  up, 
which  increased  in  violence  as  night  approached,  and  nearly  dismantled 
the  craft,  she  losing  much  of  her  rigging,  and  being  thrown  upon  one  of 
those  rocky  points,  escape  from  which  I  have  since  heard  was  most 
providential.  We  reached  home  the  following  night,  and  this  arrival 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  one  so  young.  My  grand-parents 
seemed  overwhelmed  with  joy,  after  the  fears  they  had  endured  during 
the  storm,  to  have  restored  to  them  all  they  held  dearest  in  the  world. 
Their  happiness  was  indeed  pathetic.  I  still  have  the  keenest  recollection 
of  it.  This  trip  might,  like  many  other  things,  have  been  forgotten  if 
it  had  not  been  the  marked  event  of  my  little  life  as  it  was  that  of  my 
mother's,  who  had  never  before  been  on  any  water  craft  save  a  birch- 
bark  canoe,  or  a  bateau  or  Mackinac  boat. 


GOVERNOR  CASS'S  TOUR  OF  1820 


XCI.    Day. — [August  22d.] 

N  reaching  Green  Bay,  the  |escort  of  soldiers,  which  had 
thus  far  accompanied  us,  and  the  Indians,  who  were  taken 
along  as  hunters,  were  no  longer  deemed  necessary,  either 
jiBS^l  to  our  sustenance  or  safety;  and  the  former  were  ordered 
to  join  their  respective  companies,  in  the  garrison,  while  the  latter  were 
furnished  with  a  canoe  and  provisions,  to  proceed,  at  their  own  con- 
venience, to  their  homes,  on  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  We 
here,  alteo,  embraced  the  opportunity  of  shipping  to  Detroit,  our  collec- 
tions, in  the  different  departments  of  natural  history,  and  a  part  of  our 
personal  baggage,  &c.  by  the  schooner  Decatur,  which  sailed  from  the 
bay  the  morning  after  our  arrival.  Thus  reduced  in  numbers,  and 
lightened  of  baggage,  the  expedition  was  still  further  diminished  by  de- 
taching a  canoe  with  eight  men,  under  the  orders  of  Mr.  Trowbridge,1 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Doty,*  and  Mr.  Chase,  to  proceed  around  the 
western  shores  of  Green  Bay,  to  Michilimackinac;  while  the  remainder 
of  the  party,  still  numbering  two  canoes,  and  sixteen  men,  coasted  south- 
erly to  Chicago,  and  thence  around  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan, 
to  Michilimackinac. 

We  parted  from  Mr.  Trowbridge,  at  the  mouth  of  Fox  river,  at 
half  past  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  proceeding  along  the  eastern  shore 
of  Green  Bay  twenty-five  miles  encamped  on  the  beach  at  twilight. 
The  shore  is  a  fertile  alluvion,  covered  with  sugar  maple,  elm,  oak, 
hemlock,  and  poplar.  The  bay  has  a  sandy  beach,  and  transparent 
waters.  In  a  short  time  we  were  overtaken  by  the  Indians,  who  had 

'Charles  C.  Trowbridge  came  to  Detroit  from  the  East  as  a  young  man  in  1819,  and 
died  there  in  1883.  He  achieved  considerable  prominence  both  in  business  and  in  politics. 
He  was  connected  with  various  banking  and  railroad  enterprises,  was  mayor  of  Detroit  in  1834, 
and  Whig  candidate  for  the  governorship  of  Michigan  in  1837. 

2  James  Duane  Doty  was  the  official  secretary  of  the  exploring  expedition  of  1820, 
and  his  journal  of  it  is  published  in  volume  XIII  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections. 
He  became  a  leading  citizen  of  Wisconsin,  holding  at  different  times  the  offices  of  Federal 
judge  for  the  portion  of  Michigan  Territory  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  governor  of  Wisconsin 
Territory,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  and  governor  of  Utah  Territory.  He  owned  the 
site  of  Madison  and  was  chiefly  responsible  for  its  selection  as  the  capital  of  Wisconsin. 


ioo  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

recently  constituted  a  part  of  the  expedition,  and  they  encamped  with 
us.  In  the  course  of  the  evening,  they  endeavoured  to  point  out  to  us 
by  moonlight,  a  rocky  island,  at  three  or  four  miles  distance,  in  which 
there  is  a  large  cavern,  which  has  been  employed,  by  their  tribes,  from 
the  remotest  times,  as  a  repository  for  the  dead.  They  appeared  to 
regard  the  spot,  as  the  monument  of  a  long  race  of  heroes,  sages,  and 
warriors,  whose  deeds  were  deservedly  embalmed  in  the  memories  of  a 
grateful  posterity;  and  spoke  of  it  in  a  manner,  evincing  a  high  spirit 
of  ancestry;  and,  as  if,  like  the  castle  of  Fredolfo,  it  borrowed  all  its 
luster  from  the  heroes  whom  it  enshrined. 

"  It  hath  a  charm  the  stranger  knoweth  not — 
It  is  the  dwelling  of  mine  ancestry! 
There  is  an  inspiration  in  its  shade; 
The  echoes  of  its  walls  are  eloquent, 
The  words  they  speak,  are  of  the  glorious  dead; 
Its  tenants  are  not  human — they  are  more! 
The  stones  have  voices,  and  the  walls  do  live, 
It  is  the  house  of  memories  dearly  honoured, 
By  many  a  long  trace  of  departed  glory." 

— Maturin. 

XCII.  Day. — [August  sjd.]  It  is  twenty  miles  from  the  spot  of 
our  encampment,  to  Sturgeon  bay,  which  is  six  miles  wide  and  fifteen 
in  length,  narrowing  gradually  towards  its  head,  where  it  receives  a 
small  stream.  From  this  spot,  there  is  a  portage  of  three  pauses,  across 
the  peninsula,  to  Lake  Michigan,  where  we  arrived  at  an  early  hour 
in  the  afternoon,  but  were  prevented  from  embarking,  by  a  strong 
head  wind.  The  shore  of  the  lake  is  alluvial,  with  a  sandy  beach,  strewed 
with  fragments  and  pebbles  of  primitive  and  secondary  rocks,  among 
which  are  found  water  worn  masses  of  greasy,  and  translucent  quartz, 
chalcedony,  petrified  madrepores,  &c.  The  forest  trees  are  maple, 
beech,  hemlock,  &c. 

XCIII.  Day.— [August  24th.]  Following  around  the  numerous 
indentations  of  the  shore,  we  progressed,  in  a  general  direction  south, 
forty-six  miles.  In  the  course  of  the  day,  we  passed  the  mouth  of  a 
small  river,  flowing  from  the  west,  called  La  Fourche.  Among  the 
forest  trees,  the  beech  (fagus  ferruginea)  has  been  conspicuous:  oak, 
pine,  poplar,  birch,  hemlock,  and  maple,  have  also  been  abundant. 
The  banks  of  the  lake  are  a  sandy  alluvion,  reposing  upon  transition 
limestone,  which  is  occasionally  seen  in  ledges,  elevated  two  or  three 
feet  above  the  water,  upon  the  prominent  points  of  the  shore.  Petri- 


GOVERNOR  CASS'S  TOUR  OF  1820  IOI 

factions,  continue  to  be  found,  lying  promiscuously  among  fragments 
of  granite,  hornblende,  sienite,  quartz,  limestone,  &c. 

XCIV.  Day. — [August  25th.]  In  coasting  forty  miles  along  the 
shore,  we  came  to  the  mouth  of  a  large  stream,  called  Manitowacky, 
where  there  is  a  village  of  Menomonie  Indians,  of  six  lodges.  Five  miles 
beyond,  we  encamped  upon  the  beach,  having  progressed  fifteen  leagues, 
as  indicated  by  a  lunar  observation.  The  country  consists  of  a  suc- 
cession of  sand  hills,  covered  with  pine.  The  banks  of  the  lake  are 
elevated  from  twenty  to  sixty  feet,  with  a  broad  sand  beach,  strewed 
with  granite  and  calcareous  pebbles,  &c.  In  walking  along  some  parts 
of  the  shore,  I  observed  a  great  number  of  the  skeletons  and  half  con- 
sumed bodies  of  the  pigeon,  which,  in  crossing  the  lake,  is  often  over- 
taken by  severe  tempests,  and  compelled  to  alight  upon  the  water, 
and  thus  drowned,  in  entire  flocks,  which  are  soon  thrown  up  along  the 
shores.  This  causes  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  to  be  visited  by  vast 
numbers  of  buzzards,  eagles,  and  other  birds  of  prey.  The  Indians 
also  make  use  of  these  pigeons,  as  food,  when  they  are  first  driven 
ashore,  preserving  such  in  smoke,  as  they  have  not  immediate  occasion 
for.  Vast  broods  of  young  gulls,  are  also  destroyed  during  the  violent 
storms,  which  frequently  agitate  this  lake. 

XCV.  Day. — [August  26th.]  Progressed  forty-three  miles,  and  en- 
camped, some  time  after  dark,  at  the  mouth  of  Milwacky  river.  This 
is  a  stream  of  sixty  yards  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  is  ascended  a  hundred 
miles  in  canoes,  being  connected  by  a  short  portage,  with  the  Rock  river 
of  the  Mississippi: — a  route  frequently  travelled  in  canoes,  by  the 
Pottowatomies  and  Menomonies.  There  are  two  American  families, 
and  a  village  of  Pottowatomies,  at  its  mouth.  It  is  the  division  line 
between  the  lands  of  the  Menomonies  and  Pottowatomies;  the  latter 
claim  all  south  of  it. 

XCVI.  Day. — [August  27th.]  A  head  wind  detained  us  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  day,  but  we  advanced  thirty-five  miles,  passing, 
in  that  distance,  the  Sac  and  Skeboigon  rivers.  Five  miles  south  of  the 
Milwacky,  there  is  found  a  bed  of  white  clay  upon  the  shore  of  the  lake; 
and  a  short  distance  back,  in  a  prairie,  a  vein  of  red  oxide  of  iron,  both 
of  which  substances,  are  much  employed  by  the  Indians,  as  paints. 
Fifteen  miles  further  south,  commences  a  range  of  high  clay  bluffs,  cov- 
ered with  sand,  on  the  verge  of  the  lake,  which  extend,  with  occasional 
depressions,  fifteen  or  twenty  miles.  At  the  foot  of  this,  at  the  water's 
edge,  there  is  a  large  body  of  pyrites,  of  a  brass  yellow  colour — great 
weight,  and  crystallized  in  a  variety  of  regular  forms,  the  most  common 
of  which  is  a  cube,  truncated  at  the  angles.  Some  of  these  crystals 


io2  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

are  six  or  eight  pounds  in  weight,  with  an  imposing  metallic  luster. 
They  occur  in  beds  in  a  tenacious  blue  clay,  from  which  they  are  washed 
by  the  waves,  and  left  in  promiscuous  piles  along  the  shore,  where,  being 
exposed  to  attrition,  their  crystalline  forms  are  gradually  obliterated, 
and  they  assume,  at  last,  the  shape  of  spheroidal  and  globular  pebbles, 
parting,  also,  in  the  course  of  this  process,  with  their  natural  external 
luster.  It  is  only  those  masses,  which  are  newly  exposed,  that  present, 
under  the  deceptive  glare  of  polished  brass,  those  beautiful  geometrical 
solids,  which  sulphur,  in  its  various  associations  and  combinations,  in 
the  mineral  kingdom,  so  frequently  assumes.  At  the  spot  of  our  en- 
campment, thirty-five  miles  south  of  Milwacky,  I  found  a  singular 
liquid  mineral,  resembling  asphaltum,  contained  in  cavities  in  a  cal- 
careous rock.  Where  it  has  suffered  a  natural  exposure  to  the  weather, 
it  had  the  colour  and  consistence  of  dried  tar,  but  on  obtaining  a  fresh 
fracture,  it  was  so  liquid  as  to  flow  from  the  cavities,  and  presented  an 
olive  brown  colour,  inclining  to  black. 

XCVII.  Day. — [August  28th.]  Proceeded  forty  miles.  The  shore, 
during  this  distance,  is  principally  prairie,  upon  which  the  oak  tree 
predominates.  In  some  instances,  there  are  hillocks  of  sand,  either 
wholly  destitute  of  vegetation,  or  capped  with  scattering  pines.  Among 
the  detached  rocks  of  the  shore,  are  found,  calcareous  spar,  crystallized 
quartz,  chacholong,  jasper,  toadstone,  &c. 

XCVIII.  Day. — [August  sgth.]  We  reached  Chicago  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  proceeding  ten  miles.  The  village  consists 
of  ten  or  twelve  dwelling  houses,  with  an  aggregate  population,  of  prob- 
ably, sixty  souls.  The  garrison  stands  on  the  south  shore  of  Chicago 
creek,  four  or  five  hundred  yards  from  its  entrance  into  the  lake,  and, 
like  the  majority  of  our  frontier  posts,  consists  of  a  square  stockade, 
inclosing  barracks,  quarters  for  the  officers,  a  magazine,  provision  store, 
&c.  and  defended  by  bastions  at  the  northwest,  and  southeast  angles. 
It  is  at  present  occupied  by  a  hundred  and  sixty  men,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Bradley. 

The  village  of  Chicago  is  situated  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  the  northern 
boundary  line  of  which,  commences,  on  the  lake  shore,  about  twenty 
miles  north  of  the  fort,  and  running  due  west,  strikes  the  Mississippi 
between  Dubuque's  lead  mines,  and  Prairie  du  Chien.  It  is  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  miles,  from  Chicago  to  Green  Bay,  by  the  way  of  the 
lakes,  and  the  portage  of  Sturgeon  Bay — and  four  hundred  to  the  island 
of  Michilimackinac. 

Chicago  creek  is  eighty  yards  wide,  at  the  garrison,  and  has  a  bar 
at  its  mouth,  which  prevents  shipping  from  entering,  but  is  deep  within. 


GOVERNOR  CASS'S  TOUR  OF  1820  103 

It  is  ascended  eleven  miles  in  boats,  and  barges,  where  there  is  a  portage 
of  seven  miles  across  a  prairie,  to  the  river  Plein,  the  main  northwestern 
fork  of  the  Illinois. 

The  intervening  country  consists  of  different  strata  of  marl  and  clay, 
presenting  great  facilities  for  canal  excavation,  and  the  difference  in  the 
level  of  the  two  streams  is  so  little,  that  loaded  boats  of  a  small  class,  may 
pass  over  the  lowest  parts  of  the  prairie,  during  the  spring,  and  autumnal 
freshets. — But  at  mid-summer,  it  is  necessary  to  transport  them  over  land, 
to  mount  Juliet,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  From  thence  the  navigation 
is  good,  at  all  seasons,  to  St.  Louis,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles. 

XCIX.  Day. — [August  joth.]  The  country  around  Chicago  is 
the  most  fertile  and  beautiful  that  can  be  imagined.  It  consists  of  an 
intermixture  of  woods  and  prairies,  diversified  with  gentle  slopes, 
sometimes  attaining  the  elevation  of  hills,  and  irrigated  with  a  number  of 
clear  streams  and  rivers,  which  throw  their  waters  partly  into  lake 
Michigan,  and  partly  into  the  Mississippi  river.  As  a  farming  country, 
it  unites  the  fertile  soil,  of  the  finest  lowland  prairies,  with  an  elevation, 
which  exempts  it  from  the  influence  of  stagnant  waters,  and  a  summer 
climate  of  delightful  serenity;  while  its  natural  meadows  present  all  the 
advantages  for  raising  stock,  of  the  most  favoured  part  of  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  already  the  seat  of  several  flourishing  planta- 
tions, and  only  requires  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  the 
lands,  to  become  one  of  the  most  attractive  fields  for  the  emigrant.  To 
the  ordinary  advantages  of  an  agricultural  market  town,  it  must,  here- 
after, add  that  of  a  depot,  for  the  inland  commerce,  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sections  of  the  union,  and  a  great  thoroughfare  for  strangers, 
merchants,  and  travelers. 

There  is  a  valuable  and  extensive  bed  of  mineral  coal,  about  forty 
miles  southwest  of  Chicago,  on  the  Fox  river  of  the  Illinois,  near  the 
point  of  its  embouchure.  The  stratum  of  coal,  which  appears  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  is  said  to  have  an  extensive  range  towards  the  north- 
west, and  is  only-  covered  by  a  light  deposit  of  alluvial  soil,  of  a  few  feet 
in  thickness.  There  is  also,  about  twenty  miles  north  of  Chicago,  a 
bed  of  red  oxide  of  iron,  in  a  state  of  great  purity,  and  its  preparation 
as  a  pigment,  may  be  expected  to  result  from  the  influx  of  emigrants. 
Pyrites,  are  also  very  common  in  this  vicinity,  yet,  it  is  a  singular  fact, 
that  the  bricks  at  Chicago,  which  are  manufactured  from  the  earth, 
taken  up  on  the  banks  of  the  creek,  burn  white,  like  the  Stourbridge 
fire-bricks,  indicating,  as  I  am  led  to  conclude,  an  absence  of  iron,  in 
any  of  its  numerous  forms  of  combination,  at  least,  in  the  usual  degree. 
All  our  common  clays  burn  with  some  tint,  however  light,  of  red,  which 


104  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

has  been  referred,  by  chemical  writers,  with  much  precision,  to  the 
presence  of  oxid  of  iron. 

There  is  said  to  be  a  petrified  hickory  tree  in  the  bed  of  the  river 
Kankakee,  near  its  junction  with  the  Illinois,  forty-five  miles  by  land, 
and  sixty  by  the  course  of  the  river,  from  Chicago.  It  is  entire,  and 
partly  imbedded  in  the  calcareous  rock,  forming  the  bed  of  the  Kankakee. 

The  open  nature  of  the  country  around  Chicago,  exposes  it  to 
piercing  winds  during  the  winter  months,  although  the  same  cause, 
contributes  to  render  it  a  delightful  residence  during  the  summer  season.3 

C.  Day. — [August  31  St.]  Governor  Cass  here  determined  to  pro- 
ceed on  horseback,  across  the  peninsula  of  Michigan,  following  the  Indian 
trail,  to  Detroit;  and  accompanied  by  Mr.  Kinsey,  of  Chicago,  Major 
Forsyth,4  and  Lieutenant  Mackay5  of  the  expedition,  and  one  or  two 
attendants,  left  Chicago  at  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  taking  the  beach 
road  to  the  river  Du  Schmein,6  where  the  path  leaves  the  lake.  In  the 
meantime,  Captain  Douglass7  and  myself,  were  left  to  complete  the 
topographical  and  geological  survey  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  joining  our 
companions,  who  were  detached  from  Green  Bay  on  the  twenty- 
second  of  August,  at  Michilimackinac,  to  proceed  to  Detroit  with  all 
practicable  despatch. — We  were  ready  to  embark  at  half  past  two  in 
the  afternoon,  and  bidding  adieu  to  Doctor  Wolcott,8  who,  being  a  resi- 
dent of  Chicago,  here  left  the  expedition;  we  proceeded,  with  a  fair  wind, 
twenty  miles  south-southeast,  and  encamped  on  the  shore  of  the  lake. 
At  the  distance  of  eleven  miles  from  Chicago,  we  passed  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Little  Konomick,  which  is  a  stream  of  about  forty  miles  in 
length,  flowing  in,  by  a  deep  and  narrow  channel,  from  the  south.  The 
shore  of  the  lake,  during  this  distance,  is  the  sandy  margin  of  a  prairie, 
without  hills.  In  one  instance  only,  do  any  rock  strata  appear,  and 
then  merely  at  a  point,  not  elevated  more  than  four  or  five  inches  above 
the  water.  They  are  calcareous. 

'The  chapter  concludes  with  a  meteorological  table  and  data,  which  we  omit  to  print. 

4  Robert  A.  Forsyth,  at  this  time  serving  as  private  secretary  6f  Governor  Cass.     He 
belonged  to  a  family  long  prominent  in  the  annals  of  the  Northwest. 

5  Aeneas  Mackay  served  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  from  1814  to  1850.     He  was 
brevetted  colonel  in  1848  for  meritorious  conduct  in  the  Mexican  War. 

8  The  river  Du  Chemin,  known  in  English  as  Trail  Creek,  was  the  stream  at  the  mouth 
of  which  Michigan  City,  Indiana,  now  stands. 

'Capt.  David  B.  Douglass  of  the  engineer  corps.  He  entered  the  army  in  1813  and 
resigned  in  1831.  At  the  time  of  the  exploring  expedition  he  was  a  professor  in  the  military 
academy  at  West  Point. 

8  Dr.  Alexander  Wolcott,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  was  appointed  Indian  agent  at 
Chicago  in  1819,  and  continued  to  hold  this  office  until  his  death  in  1830.  A  few  years  after 
coming  to  Chicago  he  married  a  daughter  of  John  Kinzie. 


GOVER^R  CASS'S  TOUR  OF  1820  105 

CI.  Day. — [September  ist.]  Detained  by  head  winds.  In  passing 
along  the  shore  of  the  lake,  (yesterday)  at  the  distance  of  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  Chicago,  the  scene  of  the  massacre  of  the  garrison,  stationed 
at  that  place,  during  the  late  war,  was  pointed  out  to  us.  This  took 
place  on  the  fifteenth  of  August,  1812,  the  day  after  the  surrender  of 
General  Hull,  at  Detroit.  At  this  eventful  period  of  the  war,  gloom 
hung  upon  every  part  of  our  extensive  northwestern  frontiers.  The 
town  of  Michilimackinac  had  already  been  carried  by  surprise;  and  the 
retrograde  movements  of  the  American  army,  served  to  flatter  the  most 
sanguine  hopes  of  Indian  animosity — while  the  recollection  of  their 
recent  defeat  at  Tippacanoe — their  ancient  prejudices — and  above  all, 
their  British  allies,  were  every  day  adding  to  their  infuriated  bands — 
which,  rising  from  the  north,  the  east,  and  the  south,  now  hung  like  a 
gathering  tempest  over  the  land,  every  moment  increasing  in  its  gloom, 
and  threatening  rapine  and  destruction,  to  our  unfortified  frontiers. 
In  this  exigency  of  the  times,  while  it  appeared  yet  practicable  to  escape, 
Capt.  Heald,  commanding  the  garrison  at  Chicago,  received  orders 
from  Gov.  Hull  to  evacuate  the  fort,  which  it  would  be  impossible  to 
succour,  in  case  of  an  Indian  attack;  and  to  proceed  with  his  command, 
by  land,  to  Detroit.  This  order  was  received  on  the  ninth  of  August, 
and  had  it  been  promptly  obeyed,  it  is  probable  that  the  fate  of  the  gar- 
rison would  have  been  averted,  as  the  Indians  had  not  yet  appeared  in 
force;  but  owing  to  an  infatuation,  which  it  is  difficult  to  explain,  eight 
days  were  allowed  to  elapse,  before  the  order  was  executed,  during 
which  time,  the  Indians  had  collected  around  the  garrison  to  the  number 
of  four  or  five  hundred,  and  by  killing  the  cattle,  and  other  outrageous 
acts,  shewed  a  determined  hostility,  although  they  had  not  yet  menaced 
the  garrison.  On  the  thirteenth,  Captain  Wells  arrived  from  Fort 
Wayne,  with  thirty  friendly  Miamies,  to  escort  the  garrison  to  Detroit, 
by  the  request  of  General  Hull.  Still,  two  days  were  suffered  to  pass, 
before  the  garrison  was  evacuated,  owing  to  a  fatal  security  in  which 
the  commandant  indulged,  in  regard  to  the  dispositions  of  the  Indians — 
but  in  which  his  subalterns,  and  the  inhabitants,  did  not  coincide.  At 
length,  on  the  fifteenth,  having  distributed  among  the  Indians  all  the 
goods  remaining  in  the  factory  store,  with  a  quantity  of  provisions;  and 
destroyed  the  arms  and  ammunition,  which  could  not  be  taken  away, 
Captain  Heald  marched  out  of  the  garrison,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, following  along  the  sandy  beach  of  the  lake,  which  is  the  usual  route 
to  fort  Wayne  and  Detroit.  The  garrison  now  consisted  of  fifty-four 
regulars,  and  twelve  militia,  exclusive  of  the  officers,  and  the  friendly 
Miamies,  under  Captain  Wells.  They  were  accompanied  by  several 


io6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

baggage  waggons,  containing  provisions  and  ammunition,  and  eighteen 
women  and  children;  the  whole  force  comprising  the  entire  population, 
both  civil  and  military  of  Chicago.  The  face  of  the  country  is  such, 
that  it  is  necessary  to  travel  along  the  sandy  shore  of  the  lake,  with  sand 
banks  on  the  right,  at  the  distance  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  yards, 
and  elevated  to  such  a  height,  that  the  country  back  of  it,  is  completely 
hid  from  the  view.  They  had  not  proceeded  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half, 
when  it  was  perceived  that  a  large  body  of  Indians  were  lying  in  ambush 
behind  these  sand  hills,  and  they  soon  encompassed  them, — the  broad 
lake  extending  on  the  left.  This  discovery  was  scarcely  made,  when 
the  Indians  set  up  their  horrid  yell,  and  poured  down  a  warm  fire  in 
all  directions.  Several  men  fell  at  the  first  shot,  but  Captain  Heald 
formed  his  men  with  deliberation,  and  after  firing  one  round,  ordered 
a  charge,  and  ascended  the  bank,  after  sustaining  a  severe  loss. — The 
Indians  in  front,  fled  to  the  right  and  left,  joining  a  deadly  fire  which 
was  kept  up  from  the  flanks,  and  which  it  was  in  vain  to  resist.  In  a 
few  moments,  out  of  sixty-six  soldiers,  only  sixteen  were  alive. — Captain 
Heald  succeeded,  however,  in  drawing  off  these,  to  an  eminence  in  the 
open  prairie,  out  of  reach  of  their  shot.  They  did  not  follow  him  out, 
but  gathering  upon  the  bank,  began  a  consultation,  and  made  signs 
for  him  to  approach.  He  was  met  by  a  Pottowatomie  chief,  called  the 
Black  Bird,  to  whom  he  surrendered  himself,  with  his  Lieut.  (Helm) 
and  sixteen  men,  under  a  promise  that  their  lives  should  be  spared;  but 
they  were  afterwards  butchered,  from  time  to  time,  with  the  exception 
of  Captain  Heald,  and  three  or  four  men.  Among  the  killed,  were 
Ensign  Ronan,  Doctor  Voorhis,  and  Captain  Wells.9  The  latter  had 
his  heart  cut  out,  and  other  shocking  barbarities  committed  upon  his 
body,  having  rendered  himself  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  Indians, 
by  his  influence  among  those  savage  tribes,  who  remained  friendly  to 
the  United  States.  In  the  course  of  the  action,  a  party  of  Indians, 
raising  their  furious  yells,  rushed  upon  the  baggage  waggons,  where  the 
women  and  children  had  taken  shelter,  and  commenced  a  scene  of  plunder 
and  massacre,  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  describe.  Of  eighteen 
women  and  children,  twelve  were  killed  upon  the  spot.  Several  of  the 
women,  (soldiers'  wives)  fought  with  swords. 

During  the  action,  a  sergeant  of  infantry,  who  had  already  mani- 

8  Ensign  George  Ronan  came  to  Fort  Dearborn  direct  from  West  Point  in  the  spring 
of  1811.  Dr.  Isaac  Van  Voorhis,  a  native  of  Fishkill,  New  York,  joined  the  Fort  Dearborn 
garrison  in  the  summer  of  1811.  From  this  time  until  their  death  in  the  massacre  of  August, 
1812,  these  young  men  were  the  two  junior  officers  of  the  garrison.  Capt.  William  Wells 
of  Fort  Wayne,  was  a  famous  scout  and  border  leader.  For  an  account  of  his  career  see 
Quaife,  Chicago  and  the  Old  Northwest,  224-25. 


GOVERNOR  CASS'S  TOUR  OF  1820  107 

fested  the  greatest  bravery,  was  opposed  in  personal  combat  with  an 
Indian.  Both  had  already  discharged  their  pieces,  when  the  sergeant 
saw  the  Indian  running  up  to  him  with  a  lifted  tomahawk,  but  before 
the  blow  fell,  ran  his  bayonet  in  the  Indian's  breast  up  to  the  socket,  so 
that  he  could  not  pull  it  out;  yet,  in  this  situation,  the  Indian  toma- 
hawked him,  and  they  both  fell  dead  together.10 — The  Miamies  took 
no  part  in  this  massacre.  It  was  executed  by  the  Pottowatomie  tribe. 
These  facts  are  taken  from  the  description  given  by  an  eye-witness, 
Mr.  Kinsey  of  Chicago,  and  from  Captain  Heald's  official  report. 

CH.  Day. — [September  2d.]  The  wind  ceased  in  the  course  of  the 
night,  and  we  embarked  at  early  day  light.  On  proceeding  twelve  miles, 
we  passed  the  grand  Konomick,  the  mouth  of  which  is  choaked  up  with 
sand,  and  the  appearance  of  the  country,  in  the  vicinity,  is  very  barren, 
and  uninviting.  Twenty  miles  beyond,  we  passed  the  mouth  of  the  river 
du  Chemin,  (river  of  the  Road.)  Here  the  path  from  Chicago  to  Detroit 
by  land,  leads  out  into  the  prairies.  The  distance  to  Detroit,  is  com- 
puted to  be  three  hundred  miles.  There  is  a  plain  horse  path,  which  is 
considerably  traveled  by  traders,  hunters,  and  others.  It  is,  however, 
intersected  by  innumerable  cross  paths,  leading  to  different  Indian 
villages  and  settlements,  so  that  it  could  not  be  pursued  by  a  stranger, 
without  a  guide.  The  country  is  said  to  be  handsomely  diversified 
with  prairies,  woods,  hills,  and  streams,  and  furnishes  every  facility  for 
waggon  roads,  settlements,  water-mills,  &c. — In  the  spring  and  fall, 
some  danger  is  to  be  apprehended  in  crossing  several  of  the  streams, 
but  there  are  none  which  may  not  be  safely  forded  at  midsummer. 

At  a  point  intermediate,  between  the  grand  Konomick,  and  the 
river  du  Chemin,  we  passed  the  spot,  on  the  beach  of  the  lake,  where 
the  schooner  Hercules,  was  wrecked  in  the  fall  of  1816,  and  all  on  board 
perished.  The  mast,  pump,  and  some  fragments  of  spars,  scattered 
along  the  shore,  still  serve  to  mark  the  spot,  and  to  convey  some  idea 
of  the  dreadful  storms  which  at  certain  seasons  agitate  this  lake.  The 
voyageurs  also  pointed  out  to  us,  the  graves  of  those  who  perished,  who 
appear  to  have  been  buried  at  different  places,  along  the  shore,  where 
they  happened  to  be  washed  up.  Among  these,  was  Lieutenant  William 
S.  Evileth,  an  intelligent  and  promising  young  officer  of  engineers,  whose 
death  has  been  much  lamented.  He  had  been  employed  in  the  re- 
building of  the  military  works  at  Chicago,  which  were  burnt  down  by 
the  Pottowatomies,  during  the  late  war,  after  the  massacre  of  the 

10  The  name  of  the  humble  soldier  who  thus  at  the  cost  of  his  life  upheld  the  best 
tradition  of  the  American  army  and  American  manhood  was  Otto  Hays.  A  footnote  at  this 
point  in  the  original  journal  recites  the  story  of  the  occurrence  of  a  similar  duel  during  the 
Revolutionary  War. 


io8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

garrison;  and  had  embarked  the  day  previous  to  the  shipwreck,  at 
Chicago,  to  return  to  his  friends,  after  a  summer  spent  in  arduous  and 
useful  service.  It  was  late  in  November,  when  the  navigation  is  at- 
tended with  so  much  peril;  and  the  first  intelligence  of  the  fatal  catas- 
trophe, was  communicated  by  finding  the  wreck  of  the  vessel,  and  the 
bodies  of  the  passengers,  strewed  along  the  shore.  Several  days  had 
however  elapsed  before  this  discovery  was  made,  and  the  bodies  were  so 
beat  and  bruised  by  the  spars  of  the  wreck,  that  the  deceased  could  not 
be  recognised  by  their  features.  The  wolves  had  gnawed  the  face  of 
Lieutenant  Evileth  in  so  shocking  a  manner,  that  he  could  not  have 
been  recognised  had  it  not  been  for  the  military  buttons  of  his  clothes. 
His  grave  is  situated  beneath  a  cluster  of  small  pines,  on  the  declivity  of 
a  sand  bank,  and  is  marked  by  a  blazed  sapling.  His  memory  would 
appear  to  deserve  some  tribute  of  respect,  more  grateful  to  the  feelings 
of  humanity,  from  those  with  whom  he  was  formerly  associated;  and 
perhaps  this  suggestion  has  not  occurred  to  the  officers,  stationed  at 
the  neighbouring  garrison.11 

The  little  river  du  Galien,  enters  the  lake  ten  miles  beyond  the 
river  du  Chemin,  by  a  mouth  nearly  closed  with  drifting  sands.  We 
encamped  on  the  beach  twelve  miles  beyond  it,  having  progressed 
altogether  a  distance  of  fifty-four  miles. 

"The  wreck  of  the  "Hercules"  and  drowning  of  Lieutenant  Eveleth  occurred  in 
October,  1818,  instead  of  in  1816  as  stated  by  Schoolcraft.  For  a  touching  tribute  to  Eveleth 
see  Estwick  Evans'  Pedestrians  Tour,  reprinted  in  R.  G.  Thwaites  (ed.),  Early  Western 
Travels,  VIII,  233. 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  OF  1823 


IfHE  only  person  worthy  of  note,  whom  the  party  met  at 
Fort  Wayne,  besides  those  already  alluded  to,  was  Captain 
Riley,  the  same  gentleman  who  has  amused  the  world  by  an 
account  of  his  sufferings  in  Africa.  He  has  formed  a  settle- 
ment on  St.  Mary  river,  fourteen  miles  above  Fort  Wayne,  which  he  has 
called  Willshire,  in  honor  of  the  British  consul  who  redeemed  him 
from  captivity.  The  spot  which  he  has  selected  is  said  to  be  the  only 
one  that  affords  a  water  power  within  fifty  miles  of  Fort  Wayne;  from 
which  circumstance  it  will  probably  increase  in  importance.  The  party 
made  arrangements  to  cross  the  wilderness,  of  upwards  of  two  hundred 
miles,  which  separates  this  place  from  Chicago;  they  fortunately  met 
here  the  express  sent  from  the  latter  place  for  letters,  and  detained  him 
as  a  guide.  His  name  was  Bemis,  and  we  have  great  pleasure  in  stating, 
that  of  all  the  United  States  soldiers  who,  at  various  times,  accom- 
panied the  expedition  in  the  capacity  of  escort  or  guide,  none  behaved 
himself  so  much  to  their  satisfaction  as  this  man.  On  the  29th  of  May, 
the  party  left  Fort  Wayne,  the  cavalcade  consisted  of  seven  persons, 
including  the  soldier,  and  a  black  servant,  called  Andrew  Allison;  there 
were  in  addition  two  horses  loaded  with  provisions.  The  first  day  the 
party  traveled  but  twenty  miles,  and  encamped  on  the  bank  of  a  small 
stream  known  by  the  name  of  Blue-grass;  this  is  the  last  of  the  tribu- 
taries to  the  Mississippi  which  are  met  with  in  Indiana;  all  the  streams 
which  we  crossed  during  the  ensuing  five  or  six  days  empty  their  waters 
into  Lake  Michigan.  The  country  to  the  west  of  Fort  Wayne  is  much 
more  promising  than  that  which  lies  east  of  it.  Though  wet,  and  in 
some  places  swampy,  it  is  much  less  so  than  that  through  which  we  had 
previously  traveled.  The  soil  is  thin,  but  of  good  quality;  prairies  are 
occasionally  met  with;  the  forests  consist  of  white  oak,  shellbark,  aspen, 
&c.  The  weather,  which  was  cloudy  in  the  morning  and  showery  in 
the  afternoon,  cleared  off  towards  sunset,  and  our  first  night's  exposure 
was  attended  with  no  evil  consequences.  The  meadow  on  which  we 
halted,  was  covered  with  a  fine  tame  grass,  which  afforded  us  a  soft 


no  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

couch,  while  It  secured  to  our  horses  plentiful  and  palatable  food.  The 
streams  we  crossed  this  day  were  inconsiderable;  the  first  known  by  the 
name  of  Eel  river,  is  one  of  the  head  branches  of  the  Wabash:  it  was 
considerably  swollen  at  that  time;  we  forded  it  with  some  difficulty, 
and  met  on  the  west  bank  a  party  of  traders,  who  had  been  encamped 
there  some  time  with  a  large  quantity  of  furs,  which  they  dared  not 
trust  across  the  stream  in  its  present  state  of  elevation.  They  were 
nearly  destitute  of  provisions,  and  we  supplied  them  with  one  day's 
rations.  A  ride  of  thirty  miles  took  us  the  next  day  to  a  fine  river  called 
the  Elkheart,  which  it  had  been  our  intention  to  have  forded  before 
night;  upon  reaching  its  banks  we  found  it  so  much  swollen  as  to  preclude 
the  possibility  of  crossing  it,  unless  a  raft  could  be  made;  but  as  this 
would  have  detained  us  too  long,  we  preferred  attempting  to  make  our 
way  down  the  left  bank  of  the  stream.  We  were  led  to  take  this  course 
from  the  circumstance,  that  the  usual  path  crosses  back  to  the  left  or 
southern  bank,  about  twenty  miles  below  the  first  crossing.  The 
country  traveled  over  this  day,  consisted  of  low  flat  ridges,  the  summits 
of  which  presented  extensive  levels  interspersed  with  many  small  lakes 
and  lagoons.  These  ridges  are  not  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  feet  in 
height,  their  sides  are  so  steep  as  to  make  them  sometimes  difficult  of 
ascent  for  horses.  The  country  is  almost  destitute  of  timber  until 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  Elkheart,  when  we  entered  the  river  bottom, 
in  which  we  found  a  noble  forest  of  oak,  black  and  white  walnut,  wild 
cherry,  beech,  poplar,  ash,  bass  or  linden,  white  and  sugar  maple,  &c. 
the  soil  upon  which  it  grows  appearing  to  be  of  the  very  best  quality, 
but  somewhat  wet.  Among  the  plants  observed  upon  the  prairie  land, 
Mr.  Say  noticed  a  lupin  with  blue  flowers,  in  full  bloom  and  in  great 
abundance;  a  fine  cypripedium,  and  the  wild  flax,  which  grew  in  great 
plenty.  Some  of  the  small  lakes  or  ponds  are  surrounded  exclusively 
with  a  thick  growth  of  white  cedars,  none  of  which  are  seen  elsewhere, 
or  intermixed  with  any  of  the  forest  trees  on  the  more  elevated  ground. 
One  of  the  most  curious  characters  of  the  prairie,  was  the  number  of 
conical  depressions  in  the  earth,  resembling  the  sink  holes  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  St.  Louis;  they  are  from  eight  to  ten  or  more  feet  in  depth, 
and  from  twenty  to  thirty  in  diameter.  They  remind  the  geologist  of 
the  numerous  funnel-formed  holes  which  are  observable  in  gypsum  for- 
mations, and  particularly  in  the  muriatiferous  gypsum  of  the  vicinity  of 
Bex  in  Switzerland,  Moutiers  in  Savoy,  &c.  No  rocks  appear  in  situ 
any  where  along  these  prairies,  but  they  are  covered  with  granitic  boul- 
ders, bearing  evident  marks  of  attrition.  The  soil  is  likewise  thickly 
studded  with  water-worn  pebbles,  and  is  therefore  far  inferior  in  quality 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  m 

to  that  over  which  we  passed  the  preceding  day.    The  grass  of  these 
prairies  is  generally  short  and  dry. 

One  of  the  greatest  inconveniences  we  encountered  at  this  stage  of 
our  journey,  and  which  was  felt  still  more  sensibly  when  traveling  on 
the  prairies  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  the  great  range  of  the  thermom- 
eter. We  noticed  this  day,  that  at  sunrise  it  stood  at  38°,  (of  Fahren- 
heit's scale,)  while  at  noon  it  had  risen  to  72°.  So  great  a  variation  of 
temperature  is  productive  of  very  heavy  dews,  to  which  we  were  fre- 
quently exposed,  as  we  often  neglected  pitching  our  tents  at  night. 
In  rising  in  the  morning  we  found  our  clothes  as  wet  as  if  they  had  been 
drenched  in  water.  Whether  the  usual  elevation  of  these  prairies  pre- 
vents the  dew  from  being  attended  with  the  sickliness  which  generally 
prevails  in  the  vicinity  of  rivers,  or  whether  the  life,  to  which  men  are 
exposed  in  crossing  the  prairies,  protects  them  against  the  noxious 
influence  of  the  dew,  we  know  not;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  none  of  the 
party  suffered  from  it.  In  no  instance  were  any  of  us  affected  with  either 
cold  or  rheumatismal  pains;  and  if  in  one  or  two  cases  symptoms  of 
fever  prevailed,  it  was  at  a  time  when  we  had  left  the  prairies. 

A  few  Potawatomi  Indians  were  met  this  day  on  their  way  to  Fort 
Wayne.  The  trail  which  we  followed  was  struck  by  that  which  leads  to 
one  of  their  villages  about  fifteen  miles  distant.  The  weather  was  hazy 
throughout  the  day;  in  the  evening  light  clouds  were  observed.  A 
gentle  breeze  from  the  northwest  prevailed  during  the  day.  Our  horses 
had  been  fastened,  to  prevent  their  rambling  in  the  woods;  meeting  with 
but  a  scanty  supply  of  grass  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  river  which  was 
overgrown  with  bushes,  and  which  offered  them  no  other  food  but  the 
bark  of  trees,  many  of  them  broke  the  bark  ligaments  with  which  they 
were  secured,  and  strayed  to  a  considerable  distance  from  the  camp; 
these  ligaments  are  called  in  the  language  of  the  travelers  to  the  west 
"hobbles."  The  pursuit  after  the  horses  in  the  morning  occasioned  a 
great  loss  of  time,  which  was  however  increased  on  discovering  that  the 
black  boy  (Andrew)  had  not  returned  with  them;  he  having  unfortu- 
nately lost  his  way  in  the  woods.  Our  search  after  him  having  proved 
vain,  we  wrote  directions  for  him  to  pursue  our  track,  affixed  them  to  a 
tree,  and  were  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  camp,  when  fortunately  he 
made  his  appearance.  It  is  probable,  as  we  afterwards  found  out,  that 
he  would  have  perished  in  the  woods  had  he  not  come  in  just  at  that 
moment;  for  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have  traced  the 
party  in  the  thick  forest  through  which  our  course  led  us:  neither  would 
it  have  been  prudent  for  us  to  have  remained  any  longer  there,  as  our 
horses  gave  evident  signs  of  their  having  been  on  short  allowance  since 


in  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

noon  of  the  preceding  day.  Andrew's  return  to  the  camp  enabled  us 
then  to  attend  to  what  appeared  to  be  the  most  important  object,  which 
was  to  seek  for  a  place  where  the  horses  might  pasture  to  advantage. 
We  therefore  resolved  upon  following  as  short  a  course  as  we  could 
to  the  prairie  land,  endeavoring  at  the  same  time  to  keep  near  enough 
to  the  river  to  reach  the  second  crossing  before  night.  In  this  attempt 
we  met  with  great  difficulties,  from  the  closeness  of  the  forest  and  the 
swampy  nature  of  the  ground.  The  horses  labored  much  to  get  through, 
and  when  we  stopped  at  noon  to  pasture  them  on  a  small  patch  of  grass, 
we  found  that  our  progress  during  four  hours  had  been  but  about  six 
miles.  We  had  met  with  a  bold  and  hitherto  undescribed  stream, 
about  twenty  yards  wide,  which  empties  into  the  Elkheart  about  three 
miles  below  the  usual  crossing,  and  which  we  have  designated  in  our  map 
as  the  southwest  branch  of  that  river.  From  the  rapidity  and  depth  of 
this  branch  we  anticipated  the  same  difficulties  which  we  had  encoun- 
tered the  evening  before,  but  on  continuing  along  the  bank,  for  some  time, 
we  observed  a  large  tree  that  had  fallen  across,  and  that  afforded  a 
safe  and  commodious  bridge  for  ourselves  and  baggage,  while  our  horses 
swam  over.  The  afternoon  of  that  day  was  consumed  in  passing  through 
swamps,  in  which  our  horses  were  frequently  in  danger  of  being  lost. 
At  one  place  three  of  the  horses  with  their  riders,  were  near  being 
severely  hurt,  by  the  fruitless  efforts  of  the  former  to  get  over  a  bad  hole. 
We  were  happy  to  get  through  without  any  more  serious  injury  than 
that  of  being  smeared  with  dirt  from  head  to  foot,  and  with  the  loss 
merely  of  a  few  spurs  that  stuck  to  the  bottom  of  the  pool.  After  one 
of  the  most  trying  days  that  any  of  us  ever  recollected  having  undergone, 
we  encamped,  at  sunset,  in  a  place  so  low  that  we  could  scarcely  get  a 
spot  dry  enough  to  spread  our  blankets;  and  before  we  had  partaken  of 
our  evening  meal,  the  mosquitoes  arose  in  such  numbers  around  us,  that 
we  were  deprived  of  all  rest  for  the  night.  We  had  likewise  the  morti- 
fication of  finding  that  our  horses  were  almost  as  badly  off  for  grass 
this  evening  as  the  last;  the  distance  traveled  this  day  did  not  exceed 
twenty  miles.  Our  course  had  been  entirely  directed  by  the  compass, 
and  was  nearly  west.  An  Indian  trail  which  we  observed  in  a  direction 
north  40°  west,  was  followed  for  a  while,  with  the  hope  that  it  would 
take  us  to  an  Indian  village,  but  it  only  led  us  back  to  the  Elkheart, 
which  we  found  as  deep  and  rapid  as  at  our  last  encampment.  We 
observed  here  the  remains  of  a  frail  canoe  which,  for  a  moment,  we 
thought  might  assist  us  in  crossing  the  river;  but  the  weakness  of  this 
little  vessel,  soon  convinced  us  of  the  impossibility  of  trusting  to  it; 
it  was  made  of  the  bark  of  the  linden  or  elm,  procured  by  cutting  through 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  113 

to  the  wood  transversely,  first  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  and  then  again 
about  twelve  feet  above  this.  A  longitudinal  cut,  uniting  these  two, 
allowed  the  bark  to  be  shelled  off  in  a  single  piece.  It  had  then  been 
reversed,  so  that  the  inner  surface,  while  on  the  tree,  formed  the  outside 
of  the  boat;  the  whole  was  finished  by  causing  the  middle  part  to  bulge 
out,  by  means  of  sticks  placed  athwart,  while  each  end  was  pressed  in, 
and  rendered  water-tight.  This  path  having  misled  us,  we  retraced 
our  steps  until  we  ascended  a  bank,  about  twenty-five  feet  high,  which 
runs  parallel  with  the  river,  and  we  continued  along  the  edge  of  this 
through  thick  woods  of  elm,  prickly  ash,  red  haw,  spice  wood,  papaw 
in  flower,  &c.  Our  situation  during  the  night  was  a  very  uncomfortable 
one,  and  little  calculated  to  please  those  of  the  party,  who  were,  for  the 
first  time,  engaged  on  an  exploring  expedition.  To  be  placed  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  forest,  surrounded  by  bogs,  from  which  our  horses  had 
been  extricated  with  great  difficulty,  uncertain  as  to  the  possibility  of 
reaching  by  this  route  the  spot  at  which  we  wished  to  arrive,  tormented 
by  insects,  our  horses  faint  for  want  of  food,  and  all  this  at  the  com- 
mencement of  our  journey  through  the  woods,  was  rather  a  discouraging 
situation.  Anxious  to  escape  from  these  difficulties,  we  resumed  our 
journey  on  Sunday,  the  ist  of  June,  at  as  early  an  hour  as  we  could, 
and  were  engaged  for  about  five  hours,  in  difficulties  still  greater  than 
those  of  the  preceding  day.  The  thickness  of  the  forest  having  obliged 
us  to  dismount  and  lead  our  horses,  we  waded  knee  deep  in  the  mire, 
and  met  with  a  new  obstacle  in  the  necessity  of  making  frequent  halts, 
to  replace  on  the  horses  the  baggage  which  was  thrown  off,  during  the 
many  leaps  which  they  had  to  take  over  the  fallen  trees.  After  a  while 
we  reached  a  high  and  dry  prairie,  partly  covered  with  young  aspen 
bushes,  rising  to  the  height  of  from  eight  to  ten  feet,  and  so  thick  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  keep  the  whole  of  the  party  in  sight;  this 
reminded  Major  Long  of  some  of  the  difficulties  he  had  experienced  in 
traveling  through  the  cane  brakes  of  Arkansaw.  On  halting  at  noon, 
we  discovered  the  Elkheart  at  no  great  distance,  and  from  the  account 
of  our  guides,  concluded  that  we  had  got  through  our  difficulties.  To 
the  younger  travelers  it  was  a  source  of  much  gratification,  to  find  that 
the  fatigues  of  that  morning  had  exceeded  all  that  their  more  experienced 
companions  had  ever  met  with,  as  it  was  to  them  a  sure  warrant  that 
they  had  not  overrated  their  forces  in  undertaking  the  journey.  At 
our  noontime's  encampment,  we  found  the  angelica  plant,  and  the  wild 
pea-vine.  We  soon  struck  a  trail,  and  about  three  miles  below,  came 
to  the  lower  crossing  of  the  river;  it  was  still  so  high  that  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  pass,  but  we  experienced  great  pleasure  in  ascertain- 


1 14  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

ing  that  we  had  again  fallen  into  the  usual  track  from  Wayne  to  Chicago; 
We  observed  here,  for  the  first  time,  the  equisetum  growing  in  abundance. 
In  the  afternoon  we  traveled  with  ease  and  comfort  over  a  prairie  country 
interspersed  with  occasional  spots  of  woodland.  One  of  these  prairies 
which  was  about  five  miles  wide  and  one  and  a  half  long,  was  as  level 
as  possible,  and  as  far  as  the  eye  could  observe,  it  resembled  a  smooth 
unruffled  sheet  of  water.  The  scene  was  enlivened,  and  the  solitude 
interrupted  by  the  quick  flight  of  the  deer  which  we  disturbed  while 
feeding,  and  which  darted  across  our  path  with  a  rapidity  that  baffles 
description.  About  sunset  we  arrived  at  a  romantic  stream  called 
Devil's  river,  and  here  we  encamped  upon  as  beautiful  a  spot  as  the  most 
fastidious  could  have  wished  for;  we  pitched  our  tent  for  the  first  time, 
and  while  partaking  of  a  comfortable  meal,  in  the  open  air,  spent  a  mere 
pleasant  evening  than  perhaps  we  could  ever  have  expected  to  enjoy  in 
such  a  solitude.  There  was  a  still  sublimity  in  the  scene,  which  we  have 
in  vain  looked  for  on  many  an  occasion.  The  dreariness  of  our  last 
encampment  contrasted  so  strongly  with  the  calmness  of  the  present, 
that  it  powerfully  reminded  us  of  that  constant  mutability  in  the  situation 
of  man,  which  perhaps  finds  its  parallel  only  in  the  unceasing  changes 
which  his  ideas  and  his  feelings  undergo. 

The  next  day  we  proceeded  along  the  southern  bank  of  the  Elkheart 
and  observed  its  junction  with  the  St.  Joseph.  This  last  mentioned 
stream  is  known  by  the  appellation  of  St.  Joseph  of  Lake  Michigan, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  river  of  the  same  name  which  empties  into 
Lake  Erie,  and  which  we  saw  at  Fort  Wayne.  The  St.  Joseph  of  Michi- 
gan is  a  fine  stream,  deeply  incased;  it  is  about  one  hundred  yards  wide, 
and  being  at  that  time  very  full,  was  both  deep  and  rapid;  it  is  the  finest 
stream  we  have  met  with  since  we  left  Muskingum,  and  perhaps  even 
the  Ohio.  A  beautiful  prairie  with  a  fine  rich  soil,  offered  to  the  party 
an  easy  mode  of  traveling,  and  the  occasional  glimpses  which  they 
caught  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  its  adjoining  forests,  afforded  them  a 
series  of  varied  but  ever  beautiful  prospects,  which  were  rendered  more 
picturesque  by  the  ruins  of  Strawberry,  Rum,  and  St.  Joseph's  villages, 
formerly  the  residence  of  Indians  or  of  the  first  French  settlers.  It  was 
curious  to  trace  the  difference  in  the  remains  of  the  habitations  of  the 
red  and  white  man  in  the  midst  of  this  distant  solitude.  While  the 
untenanted  cabin  of  the  Indian  presented  in  its  neighborhood  but  the 
remains  of  an  old  cornfield  overgrown  with  weeds,  the  rude  hut  of  the 
Frenchman  was  surrounded  with  vines,  and  with  the  remains  of  his 
former  gardening  exertions.  The  asparagus,  the  pea-vine,  and  the 
woodbine,  still  grow  about  it,  as  though  in  defiance  of  the  revolutions 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  115 

which  have  dispersed  those  who  planted  them  here.  The  very  names 
of  the  villages  mark  the  difference  between  their  former  tenants;  those 
of  the  Indians  were  designated  by  the  name  of  the  fruit  which  grew 
most  abundantly  on  the  spot,  or  of  the  object  which  they  coveted  most; 
while  the  French  missionary  has  placed  his  village  under  the  patronage 
of  the  tutelar  saint  in  whom  he  reposed  his  utmost  confidence.  Near  to 
these  we  found  two  traders  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Indian  lands,  or  as 
is  believed  by  many,  upon  the  reservation  itself;  where  they  probably 
carry  on  a  lucrative  trade,  if,  as  we  were  informed  by  one  of  them,  a  skin 
valued  at  one  dollar  was  obtained  for  five  gunflints,  which  had  cost  him 
a  cent  a  piece.  This  is,  however,  the  least  evil;  our  objections  to  this 
trade  would  be  much  lighter,  if  the  Indians  were  liable  only  to  be  de- 
frauded of  their  dues;  but  great  as  is  this  injustice,  it  bears  no  comparison 
to  the  evils  growing  out  of  the  constant  temptation  of  liquor  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  and  which  as  is  too  well  known  it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  resist.  It  is  really  shocking  to  observe  the  manner  in  which, 
notwithstanding  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  dictates  of  sound  reason,  and 
morality,  and  the  active  efforts  of  the  United  States  agents,  the  traders 
persist  in  their  practice  of  offering  liquor  to  the  Indians,  the  effect  of 

which  is  to  demoralize  and  to  destroy  them. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *' 

Having  engaged  an  Indian  to  lead  us  back  from  Mr.  McCoy's  to 
the  Chicago  trace,  we  resumed  our  journey  on  the  3d  of  June.  Our 
guide's  hoary  head  would  have  satisfied  even  Humboldt  himself,  that 
his  assertion  "that  the  hair  of  Indians  never  becomes  gray,"  was  too 
general.  We  have  met  with  many  instances,  and  the  circumstance  is 
so  natural  that  we  should  not  have  mentioned  it,  but  for  the  importance 
attached  to  the  slightest  observation  of  a  traveler  so  accurate  as  Hum- 
boldt generally  is.  After  traveling  about  ten  miles  through  a  prairie 
we  parted  from  our  guide,  who  considered  himself  amply  rewarded  with 
about  half  a  pound  of  gunpowder.  We  then  entered  upon  what  is 
termed  the  fourteen  mile  prairie,  which  for  the  first  seven  miles  pre- 
sented an  extensive  plain  uninterrupted  by  the  least  elevation,  and 
undiversified  by  the  prospect  of  a  single  tree.  We  had  occasion  to 
observe,  on  a  former  occasion,  that  the  route  which  we  traveled  carried 
us  along  the  height  of  land  that  separates  the  waters  tributary  to  the 
Mississippi  from  those  which  empty  into  the  lakes;  and  we  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  this  confirmed,  in  this  place,  by  the  fact  that  a  com- 

1  At  this  point  in  the  narrative  occurs  a  long  digression,  not  reprinted  here,  describing 
a  visit  to  the  Baptist  Indian  school  which  had  been  founded  near  the  site  of  modern  Niles, 
Michigan,  by  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy. 


n6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

munication  between  those  waters  has  been  effected,  during  wet  seasons, 
through  the  fourteen  mile  prairie.  It  appears  that  a  very  deep  swamp, 
which  we  avoided  by  our  visit  to  the  mission  station,  establishes  a 
connection  between  two  streams  one  of  which  empties  its  waters  into 
the  Kankakee,  while  those  of  the  other  run  to  the  St.  Joseph.  This  has 
afforded,  and  still  continues  to  afford  every  year  an  easy  communication 
for  canoes  and  small  boats.  An  intercourse  has  likewise  existed,  in  wet 
seasons,  across  the  prairie  east  of  the  trader's  establishment  which  we 
passed  on  the  previous  day.  At  noon  we  rested  our  horses  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  remains  of  an  Indian  village,  named  the  Grand  Quoit,  and  we 
observed  a  few  Indian  lodges  scattered  along  the  edge  of  the  forest  which 
encloses  this  prairie.  On  discovering  our  party  on  the  prairie,  the 
tenants  of  the  lodges  immediately  rode  out  of  the  woods,  advanced 
towards  us,  and  opened  a  conversation  with  our  guides.  Their  inter- 
course with  white  men,  and  the  consequent  departure  from  their  original 
customs,  were  observable  in  the  circumstance  of  their  commencing  the 
conversation,  and  in  their  minute  inquiries  respecting  our  object  and 
intentions  in  visiting  the  country.  They  are  said  to  experience  a  great 
scarcity  of  food,  which  we  can  readily  believe  from  the  total  absence  of 
any  kind  of  game  which  we  have  observed  upon  the  route.  An  Indian 
who  rode  up  near  us,  while  we  were  partaking  of  our  dinner,  stopped  and 
appeared  to  long  after  food;  but  called  for  none.  We  offered  him  some, 
which  he  very  thankfully  accepted,  and  seemed  to  eat  with  great  vora- 
ciousness. 

Our  party  was  this  day  overtaken  by  an  express  from  Wayne,  who 
brought  letters  to  Major  Long,  one  of  which  was  from  Dr.  James,2 
stating  that  he  had  been  waiting  in  Pittsburgh  for  the  party.  From  the 
contents  of  his  letter,  we  concluded  that  the  hopes,  which  had  been 
hitherto  entertained,  of  his  being  able  to  effect  a  junction  with  us,  were 
vain.  These  were  the  last  letters  received  from  our  friends,  until  we 
found  some  on  our  return  at  Sault  de  St.  Marie. 

At  about  forty-three  miles  from  the  Carey  station  the  trail  which 
we  followed  struck  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan;  this  was  a  source  of 
great  gratification  to  us;  as  the  last  twelve  miles  of  our  road  had  been 
very  dangerous  on  account  of  the  numerous  deep  holes  formed  in  it; 
to  these  may  be  added  the  many  superficial  roots  that  projected  from 
the  beech  trees,  in  every  direction,  and  that  exposed  the  horses  to  fre- 

JDr.  Edwin  James,  1797-1861,  geologist  and  meteorologist  of  the  exploring  expedition 
of  Major  Long  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  1820.  Pike's  Peak  was  originally  named  in  his 
honor  by  Major  Long.  It  had  been  intended  that  he  should  serve  as  physician  and  botanist 
of  the  present  expedition,  but  this  plan  failed  through  inability  to  send  him  word  of  his  ap- 
pointment in  time  for  him  to  join  the  expedition. 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  117 

quent  stumbling.  The  forest  was  almost  exclusively  composed  of  the 
finest  growth  of  beech;  on  some  of  the  higher  grounds  we  found,  in  great 
plenty,  the  partridge  or  fox-berry,  (Gaultheria  procumbent,)  with  its  aro- 
matic red  fruit,  in  a  state  of  perfect  maturity;  it  was  accompanied  by 
the  whortleberry  in  full  blossom.  We  saw  this  day  the  first  white  pine, 
and  in  some  places  this  tree  was  very  abundant.  We  had  been  follow- 
ing for  some  time  the  valley  of  a  small  stream,  called  by  the  French, 
Riviere  du  Chemin,  (Trail  river,)  but  on  approaching  near  to  its  mouth, 
our  path  winded  to  the  south,  and  we  found  ourselves  at  the  base  of  a 
sand-hill  of  about  twenty  feet  in  height;  the  fog  which  arose  behind  it, 
and  the  coolness  of  the  air  warned  us  of  our  approach  to  the  lake,  and 
on  turning  along  the  base  of  the  hill  we  discovered  ourselves  to  be  on 
the  beach  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  scenery  changes  here  most  suddenly; 
instead  of  the  low,  level  and  uniformly  green  prairies,  through  which 
we  have  been  traveling  for  some  time  past,  or  of  the  beech  swamp  which 
had  offered  us  such  difficulties  during  the  last  four  hours  of  our  ride,  we 
found  ourselves  transported,  as  it  were,  to  the  shores  of  an  ocean.  We 
were  near  to  the  southern  extremity  of  the  lake;  the  view,  towards  the 
north,  was  boundless;  the  eye  meeting  nothing  but  the  vast  expanse  of 
water  which  spread  like  an  ocean,  its  surface  at  that  time  as  calm  and 
unruffled  as  though  it  were  a  sheet  of  ice.  Towards  the  south,  the 
prospect  was  limited  to  a  few  hundred  yards,  being  suddenly  cut  off  by 
a  range  of  low  sand  hills,  which  arose  to  a  height  varying  from  twenty 
to  forty  feet,  in  some  instances  rising  perhaps  to  upwards  of  one  hundred 
feet.  When  we  first  approached  the  lake,  it  was  covered  with  a  mist, 
which  soon  vanished  and  the  bright  sun,  reflected  upon  the  sand  and 
water,  produced  a  glare  of  light  quite  fatiguing  to  the  eye.  Our  progress 
was  in  a  southwestwardly  direction,  along  the  beach,  which  reminded 
us  of  that  of  the  Atlantic  on  the  coast  of  New  Jersey.  The  sand  hills 
are  undulating  and  crowned  at  their  summits  with  a  scrubby  growth  of 
white  pine  and  furze;  while  the  brow,  which  faces  the  lake,  is  quite  bare. 
In  the  rear  of  the  hills,  but  invisible  from  the  beach,  spreads  a  level 
country  supporting  a  scattering  growth  of  white  pine,  oak,  beech,  hop- 
hornbeam,  (Ostrya  virginica,)  etc.  East  and  west  of  us,  continuous 
narrow  beach  curved  gradually  towards  the  north  and,  bounded  by  the 
lake  and  the  hills,  was  all  that  the  eye  could  observe.  At  our  evening's 
encampment  of  the  4th  of  June,  we  were  at  the  southernmost  extremity 
of  the  lake,  and  could  distinctly  observe  that  its  southeastern  corner 
is  the  arc  of  a  greater  circle  than  the  southwestern.  The  beach  is  strewed 
with  fragments  of  rocks,  evidently  primitive,  and  probably  derived  from 
the  decomposition  of  the  same  masses  which,  by  their  destruction,  have 


n8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

given  rise  to  the  immense  deposit  of  sand  and  pebbles  that  forms  the 
bottom  of  the  lake.  These  fragments,  which  are  all  rolled,  vary  much 
in  size;  the  largest  we  observed  weighed  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  tons. 
They  consist  of  granite,  mica  and  clay-slates,  hornblende,  &c.  The 
hills  appear  to  have  been  produced  by  the  constant  accumulation  of  sand, 
blown  from  the  beach,  by  the  strong  northwesterly  winds  which  prevail 
during  the  winter  season;  the  sand  is  loose  and  uncemented.  In  a  few 
places  traces  of  lignite  and  peat  are  to  be  met  with;  doubtless  resulting 
from  the  decomposition  of  the  partial  vegetation  which  grew  upon  these 
hills,  and  which  was  successively  destroyed  and  buried  under  the  sand; 
perhaps  also  from  some  of  the  driftwood  which  is  often  carried  ashore 
by  the  waves. 

The  lake  appears  to  abound  in  fish,  judging  from  the  quantity  that 
we  saw  gliding  along  the  surface  of  the  water;  upon  the  beach  there  were 
many  that  lay  dead,  and  that  in  some  places  rendered  the  air  quite 
fetid.  These  belonged  chiefly  to  the  pike,  the  salmon-trout,  &c.  We 
cannot  learn  that  there  is  any  great  variety  in  the  fish  found  in  this 
lake.  The  streams  passed  this  day,  during  our  ride  along  the  beach, 
were  inconsiderable;  the  first  is  termed  the  Riviere  des  Bois,  probably 
from  the  quantity  of  driftwood  observed  near  it;  the  English  appellation 
for  it  is  Stick  river;  the  second,  which  we  met,  was  the  Big  Calamick, 
(Ke-no-mo-konk  of  the  Indians,)  where  the  party  dispersed,  during  the 
evening,  each  to  attend  to  his  own  avocations.  Major  Long  and  Mr. 
Colhoun  commenced  observations  for  latitude,  which  they  found  diffi- 
cult to  complete  on  account  of  the  fog  which  spread  over  the  lake. 
Hunting  and  fishing  parties  were  sent  out,  but  which  returned  without 
having  met  with  any  success. 

The  color  of  the  streams  which  we  passed  indicates  their  origin  in  a 
swamp;  and  the  great  excess  of  water  in  this  fen  during  some  seasons, 
together  with  the  loose  nature  of  the  sandy  bar  which  divides  it  from  the 
lake,  causes  it  frequently  to  force  the  dam,  and  open  to  itself  a  new 
passage  into  the  lake;  there  are  near  to  this  place  two  streams,  one  of 
which,  named  Pine  river  was  opened  last  year;  the  other,  named  New 
river,  was  formed  a  short  time  before.  We  crossed  both  these  streams 
as  well  as  the  little  Calamick,  and  finding  that  the  traveling  on  the 
beach  had  become  very  uncomfortable,  owing  to  a  heavy  fog,  and  a 
strong  lake  wind  which  announced  an  approaching  storm,  we  crossed 
the  sand  hills,  and  traveled  on  the  prairie;  in  this  manner  we  were  well 
sheltered  from  the  wind.  Our  path  led  us  over  the  scene  of  the  bloody 
massacre  perpetrated  in  1812,  when  the  garrison  of  Chicago  was  entirely 
destroyed  by  the  Indians,  (principally  Potawatomis,)  after  they  had 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  119 

abandoned  the  fort  and  in  violation  of  the  pledge  given  to  them  by  the 
Indians.  No  traces  are  now  to  be  seen  of  the  massacre;  the  bones, 
which  are  said  to  have  remained  for  a  long  while  bleaching  upon  the 
prairie,  were  at  last  gathered  up  and  buried  by  order  of  Captain  Bradley, 
who  had  the  command  of  the  new  fort  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  one; 
but  no  one  could  point  out  to  us  the  spot  where  they  had  been  deposited. 
While  resting  at  noon,  on  the  bank  of  the  New  river,  we  observed  how 
difficult  it  is  to  judge  correctly  of  objects  on  the  prairie  and,  at  the  same 
time,  how  great  is  the  similarity  between  the  prairie  wolf  and  the  dogs 
owned  by  the  Indians.  While  seated  at  dinner,  we  were  told  that  one 
of  the  soldiers  had  discovered  a  wolf  and  was  about  to  fire  upon  it.  The 
whole  party  saw  the  animal  and  remained  convinced  that  it  was  a  wolf, 
until  one  of  the  men  observed  an  Indian  hut  in  the  distance,  and  suggested 
that  it  might  be  a  dog  belonging  to  the  tenant  of  the  hut,  which  informa- 
tion induced  the  soldier  to  desist  from  shooting;  a  few  moments  after- 
wards an  Indian  made  his  appearance  on  the  prairie  and  called  the  animal 
to  him.  This  Indian  was  remarkable  for  the  length  of  his  beard,  which, 
contrary  to  their  usual  custom,  he  had  allowed  to  grow  to  the  length 
of  one  inch  and  a  half;  his  dress  was  indicative  of  the  same  slovenly 
disposition.  We  were  obliged  to  commit  to  his  charge  one  of  the  horses; 
this  was  the  only  one  that  had  traveled  the  whole  distance  from  Phila- 
delphia; but  he  had  become  unable  to  proceed,  having  been  affected 
for  some  time  past  with  the  distemper;  and,  notwithstanding  all  the 
care  that  was  taken  of  him,  he  had  become  so  faint  that,  even  without 
any  load,  we  found  it  impossible  to  make  him  keep  up  with  the  rest  of 
the  horses.  The  Indian  undertook  to  take  care  of  him  for  a  few  days, 
and  then  lead  him  to  the  fort,  which  promise  he  faithfully  discharged. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  fifth  of  June,  we  reached  Fort  Dearborn, 
(Chicago,)  having  been  engaged  eight  days  in  traveling  a  distance  of 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  miles,  making  an  average  of  twenty-seven 
miles  per  day.  Our  estimate  of  the  distance  exceeds  the  usual  allowance 
by  sixteen  miles,  on  account  of  the  circuitous  route  which  we  took  to 
avoid  crossing  the  Elkheart.  At  Fort  Dearborn  we  stopped  for  a  few 
days,  with  a  view  to  examine  the  country  and  make  further  preparations 
for  the  journey  to  the  Mississippi. 

In  taking  a  retrospective  view  of  the  nature  of  the  country  traveled 
over,  we  find  that  from  Fort  Wayne  to  twenty  miles  west  of  Devil  river, 
it  presents  as  it  were  two  distinct  surfaces.  The  first,  or  lower  one,  is  a 
level  moist  prairie  covered  with  luxuriant  herbage;  the  second,  or  upper 
one,  is  abruptly  elevated  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  above  the  prairie 
land,  and  consists  of  a  succession  of  flat  ridges,  uniform  in  height,  but 


I2O  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

of  unequal  breadth,  that  are  frequently  disconnected  by  narrow  straits 
of  prairie  ,land;  from  this  circumstance  the  lower  level  presents  a  con- 
tinuous surface,  while  the  upper  one  is  broken  into  distinct  ridges  in- 
sulated in  the  midst  of  the  prairie.  The  soil  of  the  ridges  is  poor  and 
gravelly,  covered  .with  a  thin  growth  of  scrubby  oaks;  it  appears  to  have 
been  occasioned  by  what  has  been  termed  an  ancient  alluvial  formation, 
(probably  similar  to.  those  extensive  deposits  which  are  said  to  consti- 
tute the  plains  that  are  observed  in  South  America;)  this  formation 
having  been  afterwards  divided  by  the  valleys  of  a  still  later  origin,  has 
produced  a  lower  level  that  is  filled  with  a  newer  alluvion  probably 
resulting  from  the  action  of  causes  which  still  continue  to  operate  to 
this  day;  as  we  had  an  opportunity  of  remarking  in  the  prairie  east  of 
the  trading  house  which  we  visited  previously  to  our  arrival  at  the  Carey 
station.  To  these  ridges  succeeds  a  broken  country  consisting  of  insu- 
lated hills  of  a  soil  still  inferior,  but  having  more  trees;  among  the  oaks, 
that  grow  here,  we  observed  for  the  first  time  the  hickory  interspersed. 

Fort  Dearborn  is  situated  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  on  the  south  bank, 
and  near  to  the  mouth  of  Chicago  river;  the  boundary  line  between  this 
state  and  that  of  Indiana  strikes  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan 
ten  miles  north  of  its  southernmost  extremity,  and  then  continues  along 
the  shore  of  the  lake  until  it  reaches  the  forty-second  and  a  half  degree 
of  north  latitude,  along  which  it  extends  to  the  Mississippi.  The  post 
at  Chicago  was  abandoned  a  few  months  after  the  party  visited  it.  Its 
establishment  had  been  found  necessary  to  intimidate  the  hostile  and 
still  very  powerful  tribes  of  Indians  that  inhabit  this  part  of  the  country; 
but  the  rapid  extension  of  the  white  population  to  the  west,  the  estab- 
lishment along  the  Mississippi  of  a  chain  of  military  posts  which  encloses 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  convinces  them  of  the  vigilance  of  the 
government,  and  of  the  inevitable  destruction  which  they  would  bring 
upon  themselves  by  the  most  trifling  act  of  hostility  on  their  part,  have, 
it  is  thought,  rendered  the  continuance  of  a  military  force  at  this  place 
unnecessary.  An  Indian  agent  remains  there,  in  order  to  keep  up 
amicable  relations  with  them,  and  to  attend  to  their  wants,  which  are 
daily  becoming  greater,  owing  to  the  increasing  scarcity  of  game  in  the 
country. 

We  were  much  disappointed  at  the  appearance  of  Chicago  and  its 
vicinity.  We  found  in  it  nothing,  to  justify  the  great  eulogium  lavished 
upon  this  place  by  a  late  traveler,  who  observes  that  "it  is  the  most 
fertile  and  beautiful  that  can  be  imagined."  "As  a  farming  country," 
says  he,  "it  unites  the  fertile  soil  of  the  finest  lowland  prairies  with  an 
elevation  which  exempts  it  from  the  influence  of  stagnant  waters,  and 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION 

a  summer  climate  of  delightful  serenity."  The  best  comment  upon 
this  description  of  the  climate  and  soil  is  the  fact  that,  with  the  most 
active  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  officers,  it  was  impossible  for  the 
garrison,  consisting  of  from  seventy  to  ninety  men,  to  subsist  themselves 
upon  the  grain  raised  in  the  country,  although  much  of  their  time  was 
devoted  to  agricultural  pursuits.  The  difficulties  which  the  agriculturist 
meets  with  here  are  numerous;  they  arise  from  the  shallowness  of  the 
soil,  from  its  humidity,  and  from  its  exposure  to  the  cold  and  damp  winds 
which  blow  from  the  lake  with  great  force  during  most  part  of  the  year; 
the  grain  is  frequently  destroyed  by  swarms  of  insects;  there  are  also  a 
number  of  destructive  birds  of  which  it  was  impossible  for  the  garrison 
to  avoid  the  baneful  influence,  except  by  keeping,  as  was  practised  at 
Fort  Dearborn,  a  party  of  soldiers  constantly  engaged  at  shooting  at 
the  crows  and  blackbirds  that  depredated  upon  the  corn  planted  by  them. 
But,  even  with  all  these  exertions,  the  maize  seldom  has  time  to  ripen, 
owing  to  the  shortness  and  coldness  of  the  season.  The  provisions  for 
the  garrison  were  for  the  most  part  conveyed  from  Mackinaw  in  a 
schooner,  and  sometimes  they  were  brought  from  St.  Louis,  a  distance 
of  three  hundred  and  eighty-six  miles  up  the  Illinois  and  Des  Plaines 
rivers. 

The  appearance  of  the  country  near  Chicago  offers  but  few  features 
upon  which  the  eye  of  the  traveler  can  dwell  with  pleasure.  There  is 
too  much  uniformity  in  the  scenery;  the  extensive  water  prospect  is  a 
waste  uncheckered  by  islands,  unenlivened  by  the  spreading  canvass, 
and  the  fatiguing  monotony  of  which  is  increased  by  the  equally  undi- 
versified  prospect  of  the  land  scenery,  which  affords  no  relief  to  the  sight, 
as  it  consists  merely  of  a  plain  in  which  but  few  patches  of  thin  and 
scrubby  woods  are  observed  scattered  here  and  there. 

The  village  presents  no  cheering  prospect,  as,  notwithstanding  its 
antiquity,  it  consists  of  but  few  huts,  inhabited  by  a  miserable  race  of 
men,  scarcely  equal  to  the  Indians  from  whom  they  are  descended. 
Their  log  or  bark  houses  are  low,  filthy  and  disgusting,  displaying  not 
the  least  trace  of  comfort.  Chicago  is  perhaps  one  of  the  oldest  settle- 
ments in  the  Indian  country;  its  name,  derived  from  the  Potawatomi 
language,  signifies  either  a  skunk,  or  a  wild  onion;  and  either  of  these 
significations  has  been  occasionally  given  for  it.  A  fort  is  said  to  have 
formerly  existed  there.  Mention  is  made  of  the  place  as  having  been 
visited  in  1671  by  Perot,  who  found  "Chicagou"  to  be  the  residence  of  a 
powerful  chief  of  the  Miamis.  The  number  of  trails  centering  all  at  this 
spot,  and  their  apparent  antiquity,  indicate  that  this  was  probably  for 
a  long  while  the  site  of  a  large  Indian  village.  As  a  place  of  business, 


122  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

'it  offers  no  inducement  to  the  settler;  for  the  whole  annual  amount  of 
the  trade  on  the  lake  did  not  exceed  the  cargo  of  five  or  six  schooners 
even  at  the  time  when  the  garrison  received  its  supplies  from  Mackinaw. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  at  some  distant  day,  when  the  banks  of  the 
Illinois  shall  have  been  covered  with  a  dense  population,  and  when  the 
low  prairies  which  extend  between  that  river  and  Fort  Wayne,  shall 
have  acquired  a  population  proportionate  to  the  produce  which  they 
can  yield,  that  Chicago  may  become  one  of  the  points  in  the  direct  line 
of  communication  between  the  northern  lakes  and  the  Mississippi;  but 
even  the  intercourse  which  will  be  carried  on  through  this  communica- 
tion, will  we  think  at  all  times  be  a  limited  one;  the  dangers  attending 
the  navigation  of  the  lake,  and  the  scarcity  of  harbors  along  the  shore, 
must  ever  prove  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  increase  of  the  commercial 
importance  of  Chicago.  The  extent  of  the  sand  banks  which  are  formed 
on  the  eastern  and  southern  shore,  by  the  prevailing  north  and  north- 
westerly winds,  will  likewise  prevent  any  important  works  from  being 
undertaken  to  improve  the  post  of  Chicago. 

The  south  fork  of  Chicago  river  takes  its  rise,  about  six  miles  from 
the  fort,  in  a  swamp  which  communicates  also  with  the  Des  Plaines, 
one  of  the  head  branches  of  the  Illinois.  Having  been  informed  that 
this  route  was  frequently  traveled  by  traders,  and  that  it  had  been  used 
by  one  of  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  who  returned  with  provisions  from 
St.  Louis  a  few  days  before  our  arrival  at  the  fort,  we  determined  to 
ascend  the  Chicago  river  in  order  to  observe  this  interesting  division  of 
waters.  We  accordingly  left  the  fort  on  the  7th  of  June,  in  a  boat  which, 
after  having  ascended  the  river  about  four  miles,  we  exchanged  for  a 
narrow  pirogue  that  drew  less  water;  the  stream  we  were  ascending  was 
very  narrow,  rapid,  and  crooked,  presenting  a  great  fall;  it  continued  so 
for  about  three  miles,  when  we  reached  a  sort  of  swamp  designated  by 
the  Canadian  voyagers  under  the  name  of  le  petit  lac.  Our  course  through 
this  swamp,  which  extended  for  three  miles,  was  very  much  impeded 
by  the  high  grass,  weeds,  &c.  through  which  our  pirogue  passed  with 
difficulty.  Observing  that  our  progress  through  the  fen  was  very  slow, 
and  the  day  being  considerably  advanced,  we  landed  on  the  north  bank, 
and  continued  our  course  along  the  edge  of  the  swamp  for  about  three 
miles,  until  we  reached  the  place  where  the  old  portage  road  meets  the 
current,  which  was  here  very  distinct  towards  the  south.  We  were 
delighted  at  beholding  for  the  first  time,  a  feature  so  interesting  in  itself, 
but  which  we  had  afterwards  an  opportunity  of  observing  frequently 
on  the  route;  viz.  the  division  of  waters  starting  from  the  same  source, 
and  running  in  two  different  directions,  so  as  to  become  the  feeders  of 


MAJOR  LONG'S  EXPEDITION  123 

streams  that  discharge  themselves  into  the  ocean  at  immense  distances 
apart.  Although  at  the  time  we  visited  it,  there  was  scarcely  water 
enough  to  permit  our  pirogue  to  pass,  we  could  not  doubt,  that  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  the  route  must  be  a  very  eligible  one.  Lieut.  Hopson, 
who  accompanied  us  to  the  Des  Plaines,  told  us  that  he  had  traveled  it 
with  ease,  in  a  boat  loaded  with  lead  and  fiour.  The  distance  from  the 
fort  to  the  intersection  of  the  Portage  road  and  Des  Plaines,  is  supposed 
to  be  about  twelve  or  thirteen  miles;  the  elevation  of  the  feeding  lake 
above  Chicago  river  was  estimated  at  five  or  six  feet;  and,  it  is  probable 
that  the  descent  to  the  Des  Plaines  is  less  considerable.  The  Portage 
road  is  about  eleven  miles  long;  the  usual  distance  traveled  by  land 
seldom  however  exceeds  from  four  to  nine  miles;  in  very  dry  seasons 
it  has  been  said  to  amount  to  thirty  miles,  as  the  portage  then  extends  to 
Mount  Juliet,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Kankakee.  When  we  consider 
the  facts  above  stated,  we  are  irresistibly  led  to  the  conclusion,  that  an 
elevation  of  the  lakes  of  a  few  feet,  (not  exceeding  ten  or  twelve,)  above 
their  present  level,  would  cause  them  to  discharge  their  waters,  partly 
at  least,  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  that  such  a  discharge  has  at  one  time 
existed,  every  one  conversant  with  the  nature  of  the  country  must 
admit;  and  it  is  equally  apparent  that  an  expenditure,  trifling  in  com- 
parison to  the  importance  of  the  object,  would  again  render  Lake  Michi- 
gan a  tributary  of  the  Mexican  gulf.  Impressed  with  the  importance 
of  this  object,  the  legislature  of  Illinois  has  already  caused  some  obser- 
vations to  be  made  upon  the  possibility  of  establishing  the  communica- 
tion; the  commissioners  appointed  to  that  effect,  visited  Chicago  after 
we  left  it,  and  we  know  not  what  results  they  obtained,  as  their  report 
has  not  reached  us;  but  we  have  been  informed  that  they  had  considered 
the  elevation  of  the  petit  lac  above  Chicago  to  be  somewhat  greater  than 
we  had  estimated  it.  It  is  the  opinion  of  those  best  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  the  country,  that  the  easiest  communication  would  be 
between  the  Little  Calamick  and  some  point  of  the  Des  Plaines,  probably 
below  the  Portage  road;  between  these  two  points  there  is  in  wet  seasons, 
we  understand,  a  water  communication  of  ten  or  twelve  miles.  Of  the 
practicability  of  the  work,  and  of  the  sufficiency  of  a  supply  of  water 
no  doubt  can  exist.  The  only  difficulty  will,  we  apprehend,  be  in  keep- 
ing the  communication  open  after  it  is  once  made,  as  the  soil  is  swampy, 
and  probably  will  require  particular  care  to  oppose  the  return  of  the 
soft  mud  into  the  excavations. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Chicago,  a  secondary  limestone  is 
found,  disposed  in  horizontal  strata;  it  contains  many  organic  remains. 
This  limestone  appears  to  us  to  be  very  similar  in  its  geological  as  well 


124  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

as  mineralogical  aspect,  to  that  observed  above  the  coal  formation  on 
the  Miami;    but  no  superposition  being  visible,  it  is  impossible  for  us 
to  determine  at  present  its  relative  age;    we  however  incline  to  the 
opinion,  that  it  is  one  of  the  late  secondary  limestones.     We  have  to 
regret  that  the  specimens  which  were  obtained  of  the  same  have  been 
lost,  and  that  we  are  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  comparing  them 
with  those  collected  in  other  parts  of  our  route.     This  limestone,  which 
lies  exposed  to  view  in  some  places,  is  for  the  most  part  covered  with 
an  alluvial  deposit  consisting  of  the  detritus  of  primitive  rocks.     Upon 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  specimens  of  native  copper  have  likewise 
been  occasionally  picked  up.     We  have  in  our  possession,  owing  to  the 
liberality  of  Dr.  Hall,  a  specimen  which  is  part  of  a  mass,  weighing  two 
pounds,  found  by  the  express  from  Chicago  to  Greenbay;   it  was  picked 
up,  on  the  lake  shore,  about  five  miles  south  of  Milwacke,  a  stream  which 
empties  into  the  lake  about  eighty-five  miles  north  of  Chicago;  the  spot 
at  which  it  was  found  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  Soapbanks,  and  is 
stated  by  Mr.  Schoolcraft  to  consist  of  a  bed  of  white  clay;  Dr.  Hall  was 
led  to  visit  the  spot  in  hopes  of  finding  more  copper,  but  met  with  none. 
We  have  dwelt  upon  this  fact  merely  from  the  great  importance  which 
has  been  attached  to  every  locality  of  native  copper,  by  those  who  are 
induced  to  believe  that,  where  a  specimen  exists,  a  mine  ought  to  be 
looked  for.     In  reading  the  relations  of  travelers  on   the  subject  we 
become  satisfied  of  the  incorrectness  of  this  conclusion;    wherever  the 
copper  has  been  found,  it  has  always  been  in  detached  masses,  generally 
of  a  small  weight,  and  appearing  evidently  out  of  place.     We  must  not 
therefore  expect  to  find  veins  in  their  vicinity;  if  the  existence  of  copper 
in  the  west  deserves  all  that  importance  which  it  has  received,  a  circum- 
stance which  we  very  much  question  in  the  present  state  of  the  country, 
it  is  not  upon  the  study  of  the  localities  of  these  fragments  of  native 
copper  that  we  are  to  waste  our  time  and  means.     The  main  object 
must  be  to  ascertain  whence  they  came;  and  this  can  only  be  determined 
by  an  examination  of  the  nature  of  the  valleys,  of  the  extent  and  abund- 
ance of  the  alluvial  deposit  in  which  they  are  found,  and  of  the  original 
primitive  formations,  from  the  partial  destruction  of  which  these  exten- 
sive deposits  of  alluvion,  and  the  large  boulders  which  accompany  them, 
have  received  their  origin.     But.  these  are  considerations  which  we 
shall  not  broach  at  present,  as  they  will  find  their  place,  more  naturally, 
at  a  later  period  of  this  work. 

Although  the  quantity  of  game  in  this  part  of  the  country  is  dimin- 
ishing very  rapidly,  and  although  it  is  barely  sufficient  for  the  support 
of  the  Indians,  still  there  is  enough,  and  particularly  of  the  smaller 


MAJOR  LONG*S  EXPEDITION  125 

kind,  to  offer  occupation  to  the  amateur  sportsman.  There  are  many 
different  kinds  of  aquatic  birds,  which  feed  upon  the  wild  rice,  (Zizania 
aguatica,)  and  other  plants  that  thrive  in  the  swamps  which  cover  the 
country.  Mr.  Say  observed,  among  others,  the  mallard,  (Anas  boschas^) 
shoveller-duck,  (A.  cfypeata,)  blue-winged  teal,  (A.  discors,)  common 
merganser,  (Mergus  serrator,)  common  coot,  (Fulica  americana,)  stel- 
late heron  or  Indian  hen,  (Ardea  minor,)  Sac.  &c.  In  the  lake  there  is 
also  a  great  quantity  of  fish,  but  none  appears  to  be  of  a  very  superior 
quality;  the  white  fish,  (Coregonus  albus,  LesueurJ  which  is  the  greatest 
delicacy  found  in  the  lakes,  is  not  caught  at  Chicago,  but  sometimes 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  north  of  it. 

Observations,  for  latitude  and  longitude,  were  made  here,  by  Mr. 
Colhoun,  from  which  the  situation  of  this  place  was  found  to  be  latitude 
41°  59'  53"  N. — longitude  86°  47'  15"  W. — Magnetic  variation  6°  12' 
East. 

During  our  short  residence  at  Chicago,  we  were,  by  the  favor  of 
Dr.  Wolcott,  the  Indian  agent,  furnished  with  much  information  con- 
cerning the  Indians  of  this  vicinity,  through  his  interpreter,  Alexander 
Robinson,  a  half-breed  Chippewa,*  who  informed  us  that  the  Indians 
who  frequent  this  part  of  the  country  are  very  much  intermixed,  belong- 
ing principally  to  the  Potawatomis,  Ottawas,  and  Chippewas,  (o-che-pe- 
wag,)  from  which  circumstance  a  great  admixture  of  the  three  languages 
prevails  here.  The  vicinity  of  the  Miamis  has  also,  in  his  opinion, 
tended  to  adulterate  the  language  of  the  Potawatomis  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Fort  Wayne;  and  it  is  believed  that  this  language  is  spoken 
in  the  greatest  purity,  only  along  the  banks  of  the  St.  Joseph  of  Lake 
Michigan.  Robinson  did  not  suppose  the  Potawatomis  to  exceed  two 
thousand  five  hundred  souls;  but  it  is  probable  that  their  number  must 
be  greater;  especially  as  they  are  united  with  the  Kickapoos,  whose 
population  amounts  to  six  hundred  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  According 
to  his  observations,  the  Potawatomis  believe  that  they  came  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  Sault  de  St.  Marie,  where  they  presume  that  they  were 
created.  A  singular  belief,  which  they  entertain,  is,  that  the  souls  of 
the  departed  have,  on  their  way  to  the  great  prairie,  to  cross  a  large 
stream,  over  which  a  log  is  placed  as  a  bridge;  but  that  this  is  in  such 
constant  agitation,  that  none  but  the  spirits  of  good  men  can  pass  over 

3  More  probably  Robinson  was  a  half-breed  Potawatomi.  At  the  time  of  the  Fort 
Dearborn  massacre  in  1812  Robinson  belonged  to  the  group  of  Indians  friendly  to  the  American 
cause.  He  piloted  Captain  and  Mrs.  Heald  from  the  St.  Joseph  River  to  Mackinac  in  a  canoe, 
thus  making  possible  their  escape  from  Indian  captivity.  After  the  war  he  became  an  in- 
fluential leader  of  his  tribe,  and  by  the  provisions  of  various  treaties  ceding  land  to  the  whites, 
acquired  a  relative  degree  of  wealth.  He  is  buried  near  Chicago  and  an  aged  daughter  still 
resides  in  the  vicinity. 


126  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

it  in  safety,  while  those  of  the  bad  slip  from  the  log  into  the  water  and 
are  never  after  heard  of.  This  information  they  pretend  to  have  had 
revealed  to  them  by  one  of  their  ancestors  who,  being  dead,  traveled  to 
the  edge  of  the  stream,  but  not  liking  to  venture  on  the  log,  determined 
to  return  to  the  land  of  the  living,  which  purpose  he  effected,  having 
been  seen  once  more  among  his  friends,  two  days  after  his  reputed  death. 
He  informed  them  of  what  he  had  observed,  and  further  told  them  that 
while  on  the  verge  of  the  stream,  he  had  heard  the  sounds  of  the  drum, 
at  the  beat  of  which  the  blessed  were  dancing  on  the  opposite  prairie. 
This  story  they  firmly  believe. 

With  a  view  to  collect  as  much  information  as  possible  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Indian  antiquities,  we  inquired  of  Robinson  whether  any  tra- 
ditions, on  this  subject,  were  current  among  the  Indians.  He  observed, 
that  their  ancient  fortifications  were  a  frequent  subject  of  conversation; 
and  especially  those  in  the  nature  of  excavations  made  in  the  ground. 
He  had  heard  of  one,  made  by  the  Kickapoos  and  Fox  Indians,  on  the 
Sangamo  river,  a  stream  running  into  the  Illinois.  This  fortification 
is  distinguished  by  the  name  of  Etnataek.  It  is  known  to  have  served 
as  an  intrenchment  to  the  Kickapoos  and  Foxes,  who  were  met  there 
and  defeated  by  the  Potawatomis,  the  Ottowas,  and  the  Chippewas. 
No  date  was  assigned  to  this  transaction.  We  understood  that  the 
Etnataek  was  near  the  Kickapoo  village  on  the  Sangamo. 

The  hunting  grounds  of  the  Potawatomis  appear  to  be  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  St.  Joseph,  (which  on  the  east  side  of  Lake  Michigan 
separates  them  from  the  Ottowas,)  and  the  Milwacke,  which,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  lake,  divides  them  from  the  Menomones.  They  spread 
to  the  south  along  the  Illinois  river  about  two  hundred  miles;  to  the  west 
their  grounds  extend  as  far  as  Rock  river,  and  the  Mequin  or  Spoon 
river  of  the  Illinois;  to  the  east  they  probably  seldom  pass  beyond  the 
Wabash. 


Part  III 
The  Birth  of  Modern  Chicago 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 
PART  III 

HE  decade  succeeding  Major  Long's  visit  to  Chi- 
cago witnessed  two  events  the  results  of  which 
served  signally  to  discredit  his  dolorous  observa- 
tions concerning  the  filture  of  Chicago  and  the 
adjoining  region,  and  to  realize  to  the  full  the 
roseate  picture  which  Schoolcraft  had  drawn.  These 
were  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  Black 
Hawk  War  of  1832. 
From  the  viewpoint  of  their  real  importance  the  second  of  these 
events  is  unworthy  of  mention  in  the  same  paragraph  with  the  first. 
The  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal  was  of  basic  importance  to  the  future, 
not  only  of  Chicago,  but  no  less  of  New  York  City  and  the  entire  nation. 
Even  yet  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  far-reaching  character  of 
the  influence  of  this  event  upon  our  national  development  is  commonly 
realized.  By  giving  her  the  easiest  and  cheapest  highway  into  the 
interior  of  the  continent  it  confirmed  to  New  York  the  commercial  su- 
premacy of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  therewith  of  the  nation.  In 
like  manner  by  flooding  the  upper  Great  Lakes  and  Mississippi  Valley 
region  with  immigrants  from  the  free  states  it  insured  the  preservation 
of  the  Union  in  the  struggle  of  1861  to  1865.  By  putting  her  in  easy 
communication  with  the  Atlantic  seaboard  the  Canal  completed  the 
work  which  nature  had  begun  of  making  Chicago  the  commercial  center 
of  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley,  a  region  whose  vastness  was  scarcely 
more  notable  than  its  wealth  of  natural  resources. 

Nevertheless,  for  seven  years  longer  Chicago  continued  to  slumber. 
At  length  came  the  Black  Hawk  War  of  1832.  Insignificant  from  the 
military  viewpoint,  it  was  still  of  much  importance  to  Chicago.  As  a 
result  of  it  the  Indian  title  to  northern  Illinois  and  much  of  Wisconsin 
was  yielded,  and  this  rich  region  thrown  open  to  settlement.  Further 
than  this,  for  the  first  time  its  attractiveness  was  made  known  to  the 


130  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

East.  With  adequate  advertisement  of  its  resources,  with  the  Indian 
obstacle  eliminated,  and  with  an  expeditious  highway  already  provided, 
there  naturally  followed  a  rush  of  immigration.  Almost  overnight 
Chicago,  which  for  160  years  had  basked  in  insignificance,  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  nation.  The  process  of  its  growth,  so  well  set 
forth  in  the  narratives  which  follow,  need  not  be  dwelt  upon  here. 
With  the  panic  of  1837  ensued  a  depression  whose  severity  was  naturally 
in  proportion  to  the  vigor  of  the  boom  of  the  last  few  years.  But  while 
panics  might  come  and  go  Chicago  had  an  abiding  basis  of  prosperity 
which  insured  her  quick  recovery  from  temporary  ills.  The  panic  of 
1837  was  probably  the  severest  the  nation  has  ever  experienced;  it  struck 
Chicago  harder,  because  there  the  madness  of  speculation  in  land  had 
gone  farther,  than  almost  any  other  place;  yet  even  in  its  baleful  shadow 
the  people  of  Chicago  remained,  as  the  concluding  narrative  of  this 
chapter  shows,  serenely  confident  of  its  future. 

It  is  a  fact  not  without  significance  from  our  present  viewpoint, 
that  there  is  a  greater  wealth  of  source  material  for  our  volume  belonging 
to  the  first  half-dozen  years  of  modern  Chicago's  existence  than  for  any 
other  periqd  in  her  history.  The  fact  that  so  many  notable  visitors 
came  during  these  years  to  the  little  frontier  town,  and,  coming,  thought 
it  worth  while  to  publish  accounts  of  their  impressions,  affords  some 
indication,  at  least,  of  the  measure  of  interest  the  outside  world  was  now 
taking  in  the  place  and  in  the  tributary  region. 

Stephen  R.  Beggs,  author  of  a  series  of  sketches  published  with 
the  title  Pages  from  the  Early  History  of  the  West  and  Northwest,  from 
which  the  narrative  of  experiences  in  the  Black  Hawk  War  is  taken, 
was  one  of  the  earliest  preachers  of  Methodism  in  northern  Illinois. 
Reared  on  the  frontier,  converted  in  an  old-time  camp  meeting,  educated 
for  the  ministry  in  "Brush  College,"  he  belonged  to  a  type  of  Methodism 
that  has  long  since  disappeared.  Like  Peter  Cartwright  he  was  a  man 
of  powerful  physique,  in  his  early  years  being  reputed  the  strongest 
man  in  his  county. 

Following  the  war  came  the  great  Indian  gathering  at  Chicago  in 
J833  when  the  allied  tribes  of  Potawatomi,  Ottawa,  and  Chippewa 
surrendered  to  the  government  their  title  to  their  remaining  lands  around 
Lake  Michigan,  supposed  to  amount  to  five  million  acres,  and  agreed 
to  remove  west  of  the  Mississippi.  To  this  gathering  came  a  talented 
young  Englishman  who  had  already  traveled  over  much  of  the  globe. 
Charles  J.  Latrobe,  born  in  England  in  1801,  had  been  educated  for  the 
Moravian  ministry  but  had  abandoned  this  career  for  one  of  travel. 
His  Rambler  in  North  America,  from  which  we  extract  the  account  of 


•-     HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  131 

his  journey  from  Detroit  overland  to  Chicago  and  his  observations  at 
the  latter  place,  describes  a  two-year  tour  of  the  United  States,  several 
months  of  which  were  spent  in  company  with  Washington  Irving. 
Whoever  reads  the  Rambler  will  easily  appreciate  the  qualities  in  its 
author  which  attracted  the  charming  and  kindly  creator  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle  and  Ichabod  Crane.  After  further  extensive  travels  Latrobe 
spent  fifteen  years  in  Australia  in  an  official  capacity,  the  last  three  as 
governor  of  New  South  Wales.  It  was  the  season  of  the  gold  rush,  the 
population  increasing  from  fifteen  to  eighty  thousand  in  a  six-month. 
The  chief  executive  under  such  conditions  must  possess  both  tact  and 
firmness,  if  he  is  to  succeed.  That  Latrobe  possessed  these  qualities 
is  clear  from  his  record  as  governor.  It  does  not  seem  fanciful  to  suggest 
that  his  experience  in  such  communities  as  the  Chicago  of  1 833  stood 
him  in  good  stead  in  ruling  the  gold  camps  of  New  South  Wales  twenty 
years  later. 

A  few  months  after  Latrobe's  visit  to  Chicago  came  an  equally 
talented  American,  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  of  New  York.  The  reader 
of  his  spirited  narrative  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  though  but 
twenty-eight  years  of  age  he  had  already  been  the  editor  of  one  New 
York  magazine,  and  the  founder  and  editor  of  a  second.  With  more  of 
surprise,  probably,  will  he  learn  that  the  youthful  editor  with  the  soul 
of  a  sportsman,  who  writes  so  spiritedly  of  the  equestrian  wolf  hunt  at 
Chicago  had  lost  a  leg  in  boyhood.  The  future  held  a  far  sadder  tragedy 
in  store  for  him,  however.  In  1850  he  was  stricken  with  a  mental  dis- 
order, and  the  remainder  of  his  life — thirty-four  years — was  spent  in 
the  insane  asylum  at  Harrisburg.  From  his  narrative  of  A  Winter  in 
the  West  we  extract  the  portion  dealing  with  his  journey  from  White 
Pigeon,  Michigan,  to  Chicago,  and  his  sojourn  at  the  latter  place. 

Two  years  now  passed  by,  when  another  talented  English  writer 
found' her  way  to  infant  Chicago..  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive, 
however,  two  individuals  whose  personalities  contrasted  more  sharply 
than  did  those  of  Latrobe  and  Harriet  Martineau.  Few  children  ever 
endured  a  more  unhappy  childhood  than  she,  and  her  physical  equip- 
ment for  the  battle  of  life  could  hardly  have  been  more  meager.  Mor- 
bidly nervous  and  fearful,  practically  deaf,  never  possessed  of  the  sense 
of  smell  and  to  but  slight  degree  that  of  taste,  he  would  have  been  a 
bold  prophet  who  had  ventured  in  advance  to  predict  for  her  the  career 
of  a  literary  lion.  Yet  such  she  became,  and  for  long  years  continued; 
and  the  reader  of  her  Chicago  narrative  will  gain  no  hint  of  her  physical 
impediments.  Her  visit  came  toward  the  close  of  a  two-year  tour  of 
the  United  States  which  afforded  the  material  for  two  three-volume 


132  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

works  entitled,  respectively,  Society  in  America,  and  Retrospect  of  Western 
Travel.  The  extract  we  reprint  is  taken  from  the  former  work.  Miss 
Martineau  was  intensely  interested  in  economic  and  social  matters,  and 
for  a  time  seriously  considered  removing  to  America  to  enlist  in  the  anti- 
slavery  fight,  which,  at  the  time  of  her  visit,  had  but  fairly  begun.  From 
this  project  she  was  deterred  by  family  and  personal  considerations. 

Of  Joseph  Jefferson  the  famous  actor,  whose  vivacious  account  of 
his  boyhood  experiences  in  Chicago  and  Illinois  we  take  from  his  Auto- 
biography, but  little  need  be  said.  He  is  too  well  known  to  the  reading 
public  to  require  any  introduction  here,  nor  does  his  simple  reminiscent 
narrative  call  for  any  particular  comment. 

Miss  Martineau  visited  Chicago  while  the  land  boom  of  the  early 
thirties  was  at  its  height.  The  young  lawyer  who  sacrificed  $500  a 
day  in  order  to  join  her  party  on  an  excursion  into  the  country  was 
Joseph  N.  Balestier,  author  of  the  narrative  with  which  we  conclude 
the  present  chapter.  Coming  to  Chicago  from  the  East  in  early  man- 
hood, Balestier  was  invited,  in  the  winter  of  1840,  to  deliver  a  lecture 
before  the  Chicago  Lyceum,  on  "The  Annals  of  Chicago."  Already, 
apparently,  the  town  which  had  sprung  up  like  a  mushroom  only  seven 
years  ago,  and  which  had  been  incorporated  less  than  half  as  long,  was 
becoming  conscious  of  its  antiquity.  It  may  be  conceded  that  the 
young  orator  made  good  use  of  the  material  available  for  such  a  theme. 
One  can  only  admire,  too,  the  fine  air  of  detachment  with  which  he  holds 
up  to  ridicule  the  follies  of  the  musty  past  of  three  or  four  years  gone; 
and  this,  too,  to  an  audience  most  of  the  members  of  which  had  them- 
selves been  leading  participants  in  the  follies  thus  ridiculed.  Neverthe- 
less a  gratified  committee  from  the  Lyceum  waited  upon  the  orator, 
after  the  dignified  fashion  of  the  time,  with  the  request  that  he  permit 
the  publication  of  his  epoch-making  address  for  the  enlightenment  of 
posterity;  which  speaks  well  for  the  Chicago  spirit,  especially  if  one  can 
divest  himself  of  the  haunting  suspicion  that  after  all  it  was  Balestier 's 
roseate  picture  of  the  city's  future  prospects  rather  than  his  castigation 
of  its  past  follies  which  interested  the  members  of  the  Lyceum. 

So  it  came  about  that  Balestier's  address  was  issued  in  pamphlet 
form  from  the  press  of  Edward  H.  Rudd.  I  know  of  but  one  or  two 
earlier  Chicago  imprints,  nor  do  I  know  of  more  than  one  existing  copy 
of  this  one.  It  is  in  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library  at  Madison,  and 
from  it  the  portion  of  the  lecture  here  reprinted  is  taken.  From  this 
copy,  too,  the  lecture  in  full  was  reprinted  in  1876,  as  number  one  of 
the  Fergus  Historical  Series.  At  that  time  Balestier,  who  was  living 
in  New  York,  wrote  a  sprightly  letter  by  way  of  introduction  to  the 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  133 

reprint.  Contrasting  the  Chicago  of  1876  with  the  city  of  1840,  he 
ventured  a  prophecy  which  shows  that  his  faith  in  Chicago's  future 
was  still  as  lusty  as  it  had  been  at  the  earlier  date.  In  the  light  of  our 
present  knowledge  it  will  perhaps  be  of  interest  to  note  that  he  predicted 
for  the  city  of  191 1  a  population  of  two  million  souls  with  airship  expresses 
plying  between  the  place  and  Sitka,  Alaska. 


CHICAGO  IN  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR 


JESSE  WALKER1  was  superintendent  of  the  mission  work 
from  Peoria  to  Chicago,  and  also  had  a  nominal  appointment 
at  Chicago.  His  labors,  however,  were  so  extensive  that 
he  preached  here  but  a  few  times  during  the  year.  Brother 
Walker  was  not  able  to  attend  Conference,  held  in  Indianapolis,  in  1831. 
After  consulting  me,  to  know  if  I  was  willing  to  take  charge  of  the  mission 
at  Chicago,  to  which  I  consented  if  Conference  should  so  decide,  he  wrote 
to  Bishop  Roberts  to  appoint  me  to  that  work.  So  this  was  my  home 
for  the  coming  year,  and  I  hastened  to  take  charge  of  the  little  class  I 
had  formed  a  few  months  previous.  I  found  them  all  standing  fast 
in  the  liberty  of  the  Gospel. 

Our  meetings  were  generally  held  in  the  fort,  and  they  increased 
in  interest  till  our  first  quarterly  meeting,  which  was  held  in  January, 
1832.  I  had  been  helping  Brother  Walker  hold  some  meetings  at 
Plainfield,  and  we  left  there  on  one  of  the  coldest  days  of  that  winter 
for  my  quarterly  meeting  at  Chicago.  It  was  thirty  miles  to  the  first 
house.  Brother  T.  B.  Clark  started  with  us  with  an  ox  team,  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  provisions  to  help  sustain  the  people  in  Chicago 
during  the  meeting.  Provisions  were  very  scarce  here  at  that  time. 
Late  in  the  evening  we  became  alarmed  lest  he  had  perished  in  the  cold, 
and  went  out  on  a  fruitless  hunt  after  him.  He  arrived,  at  eleven  o'clock 
that  night,  at  our  stopping  place.  The  next  day  saw  us  all  safely  in 
Chicago,  where  we  met  with  a  warm  reception  from  Brother  Lee*  and 
family. 

Here,  today  [1857],  amid  the  presence  of  this  great  and  prosperous 
city,  let  us  reconsider  our  humble  beginnings.  Thirty-six  years  ago  a 
load  of  provisions  was  brought  by  ox  team  from  the  village  of  Plainfield 
to  sustain  the  friends  that  met  here  for  a  quarterly  meeting!  The 

1  Jesse  Walker,  pioneer  Methodist  missionary  and  minister,  was  born  in  North  Carolina 
about  the  year  1760,  and  died  in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  in  1835.     After  preaching  for  a  time 
in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  he  was  sent  into  Illinois  as  a  missionary,  in  1806.     The  remainder 
of  his  life  was  spent  in  Illinois  and  Missouri,  doing  pioneer  work  for  Methodism  in  both  states. 
He  organized  the  first  Methodist  church  in  St.  Louis,  in  1820,  and  a  few  years  later  assisted 
in  establishing  his  denomination  at  Chicago. 

2  William  Lee,  a  blacksmith  by  trade  and  an  exhorter  in  the  Methodist  church.    He 
came  to  Chicago  about  the  year  1830,  removing  to  southern  Wisconsin  in  1835. 


136  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

meeting  commenced  with  power,  and  increased  in  interest  till  Sunday 
morning.  My  first  sermon  was  preached  on  Sabbath  morning  at  ten 
o'clock,  after  which  Brother  Walker  invited  the  people  around  the 
sacramental  board.  It  was  a  season  long  to  be  remembered.  Every- 
one seemed  to  be  baptized  and  consecrated  anew  to  the  great  work  to 
be  accomplished  in  the  village  that  was  destined  to  become  a  mighty 
city. 

Jesse  Walker  was  my  successor  in  1832.  He  moved  his  family  up 
to  Chicago  as  soon  as  possible,  and  set  to  work.  I  attended  his  first 
quarterly  meeting;  it  was  held  in  an  old  log  schoolhouse  which  served 
for  a  parsonage,  parlor,  kitchen,  and  audience-room.  The  furniture 
consisted  of  an  old  box  stove,  with  one  griddle,  upon  which  we  cooked. 
We  boiled  our  teakettle,  cooked  what  few  vegetables  we  could  get,  and 
fried  our  meat,  each  in  its  turn.  Our  table  was  an  old  wooden  chest; 
and  when  dinner  was  served  up  we' surrounded  the  board  and  ate  with 
good  appetites,  asking  no  questions  for  conscience'  sake.  Dyspepsia, 
that  more  modern  refinement,  had  not  found  its  way  to  our  settlements. 
We  were  too  earnest  and  active  to  indulge  in  such  a  luxury.  Indeed, 
our  long  rides  and  arduous  labors  were  no  friends  to  such  a  visitant. 
This  palatial  residence,  which  served  as  the  Chicago  parsonage,  was 
then  situated  between  Randolph  and  Washington  streets,  the  first 
block  west  of  the  river. 

The  winter  previous  I  had  purchased  a  claim,  the  only  title  to  be  had. 
Then  I  paid  three  hundred  dollars  for  a  claim  upon  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  eighty  of  which  was  covered  with  timber  land,  portions  of 
which  today  sell  for  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre.  My  aim  then  was 
to  secure  a  home,  when  the  time  should  come  that  I  could  no  longer 
travel  on  the  itinerant  work,  which  I  had  laid  out  as  the  business  of  my 
life  while  health  and  strength  remained.  The  Lord  prospered  me  in 
my  purchase.  I  was  well  paid  for  my  land,  for  which  blessing  I  am  yet 
thankful,  and  trust  that  I  shall  ever  be  found  a  good  steward  of  the 
manifold  mercies  of  the  Lord. 

This  year  there  were  no  returns  of  members.  At  this  time  a  little 
incident  occurred  in  the  life  of  Jesse  Walker  worthy  of  note,  as  showing 
the  intolerance  we  had  sometimes  to  meet  with,  even  in  a  new  country. 
At  an  early  day  he  was  in  the  habit  of  holding  meetings  for  the  handful 
of  Americans  then  in  St.  Louis.  Finding  that  there  was  need  for  regular 
appointments,  he  made  them  for  once  in  four  weeks.  The  Catholics 
hearing  of  this  great  outrage — that  a  Methodist  was  to  preach  regularly 
among  them — went  to  their  priest  with  a  complaint  against  such  a 
presumption.  "Never  mind,"  said  the  priest,  "they  can't  do  much; 


CHICAGO  IN  THE  BLACK.  HAWK  WAR  137 

if  nothing  else  will  do,  we  will  starve  them  out."  "Starve  them  out," 
said  the  complainant,  "why,  they  will  live  where  a  dog  would  starve  to 
death!"  And  it  was  through  the  untiring  efforts  of  Walker  that  the 
foundations  of  Methodism  were  so  deeply  and  broadly  laid,  that  neither 
Catholicism  nor  the  "Prince  of  the  power  of  the  air"  has  been  able  to 
withstand  its  growth.  The  handful  of  seed  which  he  then  planted 
has  now  become  like  the  "Cedars  of  Lebanon."  May  we  ever  manifest 
his  zeal  in  all  good  works  which  the  Lord  may  appoint  unto  us! 

Amid  our  other  trials  and  hardships  we  suffered  some  from  fear  of 
the  Indians.  I  had  laid  in  my  store  of  provisions  for  the  coming  summer. 
It  was  during  my  absence  that  Mrs.  Beggs  was  greatly  annoyed  by  the 
Potawatomie  Indians,  who  frequently  brought  rumors  that  the  Black 
Hawks  would  kill  us  all  that  Spring.  It  was  not  long  before  the  inhab- 
itants came  flying  from  Fox  River,  through  great  fear  of  their  much- 
dreaded  enemy.  They  came  with  their  cattle  and  horses,  some  bareheaded 
and  others  barefooted,  crying  "The  Indians!  the  Indians!"  Those  that 
were  able  hurried  on  with  all  speed  for  Danville.  All  the  inhabitants  on 
Hickory  Creek  and  in  Jackson  Grove  took  fright  also,  and  fled. 

A  few  of  the  men  only  staid  behind  to  arrange  their  temporal  matters 
as  best  they  could  under  the  circumstances.  In  the  meantime  some 
friendly  Indians  who  knew  of  their  fright  were  coming  to  inform  them 
that  their  dangers  were  not  so  great  as  they  supposed.  The  men,  seeing 
these,  and  supposing  that  they  were  hostile,  mounted  their  horses  and 
fled  for  life,  before  they  could  be  informed  of  the  friendly  intentions  of 
their  visitors.  The  latter  then  tried  to  head  them  in,  in  order  to  correct 
their  mistake.  This,  of  course,  only  made  matters  worse;  and  the  men 
hastened  on  with  greater  speed  till  they  reached  their  families,  who  had 
by  this  time  come  to  a  halting  place  for  the  night.  Their  cattle  and 
horses  were  turned  out  to  feed  and  scattered  over  the  surrounding 
country.  They  were  making  arrangements  for  supper — some  of  them 
having  their  meals  prepared,  others  just  commencing  to  prepare  them — 
when  here  came  those  men,  flying  in  hot  haste,  one  of  whom  had  lost  a 
hat,  and  their  horses  jaded  and  worn,  with  a  ten-mile  race.  When  they 
told  of  their  narrow  escape,  and  how  the  Indians  had  tried  to  head 
them,  there  was  confusion  and  dismay  in  the  little  camp. 

It  was  urged  that  all  should  remain  quiet  till  they  could  get  their 
cattle  and  horses  together;  but  there  was  too  much  "demoralization" 
for  that.  One  team  could  not  be  found,  and  it  was  thought  better  to 
sacrifice  one  than  that  the  whole  should  suffer.  So  it  was  decided  that 
they  should  move  off  as  silently  as  possible;  yet  there  was  one  ungovern- 
able person  among  them,  who  made  noise  enough  in  driving  his  oxen  to 


138  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

have  been  heard  a  mile  distant.  Of  course  this  was  very  annoying  to 
the  others,  who  felt  the  necessity  of  being  quiet.  The  hatless  man 
and  one  or  two  others  found  their  way  to  Danville  in  advance  of  the  rest, 
and  told  their  fearful  stories — how  the  Indians  were  killing  and  burning 
all  before  them,  while  at  this  time  it  is  presumed  that  there  was  not  a 
hostile  Indian  south  of  Desplains  River.  At  Plainfield,  however,  the 
alarm  was  so  great  that  it  was  thought  best  to  make  all  possible  efforts 
for  a  defense  in  case  of  an  attack. 

My  house  was  considered  the  most  secure  place.  I  had  two  log 
pens  built  up,  one  of  which  served  for  a  barn  and  the  other  a  shed. 
These  were  torn  down,  and  the  logs  used  to  build  up  a  breastwork  around 
the  house.  All  of  the  people  living  on  Fox  River  who  could  not  get 
farther  away  made  my  house  a  place  of  shelter.  There  were  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five,  old  and  young.  We  had  four  guns,  some  useless  for 
shooting  purposes.  Ammunition  was  scarce.  All  of  our  pewter  spoons, 
basins,  and  platters  were  soon  molded  by  the  women  into  bullets.  As  a 
next  best  means  of  defense,  we  got  a  good  supply  of  axes,  hoes,  forks, 
sharp  sticks,  and  clubs.  Here  we  intended  to  stay  till  some  relief  could 
be  obtained.  This  was  on  Thursday;  and  we  remained  here  till  the 
next  Sabbath,  when  the  people  of  Chicago,  hearing  of  our  distress,  raised 
a  company  of  twenty-five  white  men,  and  as  many  Indians,  who  came 
to  our  aid.  They  remained  with  us  till  the  next  morning,  (Monday,) 
and  then  concluded  to  reconnoiter  along  the  Fox  River. 

The  Indians,  with  Mr.  Lorton  at  their  head,  were  to  go  to  Big 
Woods,  (now  Aurora,)  and  Gen.  Brown,  with  Col.  Hamilton  and  their 
men,  were  to  visit  Halderman's  Grove,  and  then  fix  upon  a  place  to  meet 
in  the  evening,  where  they  might  spend  the  night  together  in  safety. 
In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Lorton  came  back,  with  two  or  three  of  his  Indians, 
and  brought  us  fearful  stories  of  how  they  had  all  been  taken  prisoners, 
and  kept  two  or  three  hours;  the  Indians,  however,  being  on  good  terms 
with  Black  Hawk,  he  had  allowed  him,  with  an  escort,  to  have  his  liberty, 
in  order  to  go  up  to  Chicago,  where  he  intended  to  take  his  family  for 
safety.  He  must  go  that  night,  and  had  but  a  moment  to  warn  us  of 
our  danger.  He  told  us  our  fort  would  be  attacked  that  night,  or  the 
next  at  the  longest,  and  that  if  they  could  not  storm  the  fort  at  first, 
they  would  continue  the  siege  till  they  did.  He  advised  us  to  fly  to 
Ottawa  or  Chicago  as  soon  as  possible. 

Such  a  scene  as  then  took  place  at  Fort  Beggs  was  seldom  witnessed, 
even  in  those  perilous  times.  The  stoutest  hearts  failed  them,  and 
strong  men  turned  pale,  while  women  and  children  wept  and  fainted, 
till  it  seemed  hardly  possible  to  restore  them  to  life,  and  almost  cruel 


CHICAGO  IN  THE  BLACK  HAWK.  WAR  139 

for  them  to  return  from  their  quiet  unconsciousness  to  a  sense  of  their 
danger.  It  was  no  time  to  hesitate  or  deliberate.  Immediate  depar- 
ture was  the  word;  but  they  were  divided  as  to  the  best  means  to  be  taken 
in  finding  a  place  of  security;  some  wished  to  go  to  Chicago,  others  to 
Ottawa,  while  some  proposed  to  separate  and  scatter  for  the  woods. 
After  several  short  and  pithy  speeches  were  made,  James  Walker  was 
elected  Captain,  and  formed  us  into  a  company.  We  were  advised 
that  Indians  would  never  attack  a  fort,  unless  driven  to  it,  and  that  it 
was  safer  to  remain  where  we  were,  at  least  till  we  heard  from  the 
remaining  men. 

All  possible  preparations  were  then  made  for  our  defense,  and  we 
determined  to  sell  our  lives  as  dearly  as  we  could.  A  long  piece  of  fence 
was  torn  down  and  strewed  about  the  fort.  We  set  fire  to  these  rails, 
so  that  we  might  see  the  Indians  when  they  came  for  attack.  We  had 
several  alarms;  yet  we  remained  here  safe  till  Wednesday  evening,  and 
then  every  man  was  ordered  to  his  post  to  prepare  for  an  onset  from  the 
enemy.  To  our  great  joy  the  white  men  returned  that  evening;  but 
they  brought  us  news  of  the  massacre  of  fifteen  white  inhabitants  on 
Indian  Creek;*  also  that  they  were  burning  houses  and  killing  cattle. 
They  advised  us  to  leave  the  fort  at  once,  and  go  either  to  Ottawa,  or 
Chicago.  We  chose  the  latter  course.  One  circumstance  I  had  forgotten 
to  mention.  When  the  inhabitants  fled  from  Fox  River,  there  was  one 
infirm  old  man  who  was  confined  to  his  bed  with  the  rheumatism.  He 
advised  them  to  leave  him,  as  he  had  not  many  days  to  live  at  all  events. 
They  left  him,  and  it  was  several  days  before  they  ventured  back  to 
see  what  had  become  of  him.  They  found  him,  and  learned  that  the 
Indians  had  been  there  and  brought  him  food.  He  was  brought  to  our 
fort,  and  there  was  as  much  rejoicing  as  if  one  had  been  raised  from  the 
dead.  It  was  decided  that  we  should  take  him  with  us  to  Chicago.  We 
spent  the  night  in  busy  preparations  for  our  departure  the  next  day. 
In  getting  our  oxen  and  horses  together,  it  was  found  that  we  had  only 
teams  enough  to  carry  the  people.  Nearly  all  of  our  effects  had  to  be 
left  behind;  some  of  my  ironware  and  bedclothes  I  hid  in  hollow  trees, 
in  hopes  of  finding  them  again,  should  I  ever  return.  I  did  return  a  long 
time  after  that.  I  had  been  detained  by  sickness,  and  found  that  my 
bedclothes  were  nearly  spoiled,  and  a  great  destruction  of  property 
besides,  although  no  houses  were  burned. 

We  left  our  fort  at  seven  o'clock  on  Thursday  morning  with  our 

•The  Indian  Creek  massacre  took  place  May  22,  on  the  Davis  Farm,  twelve  miles 
north  of  Ottawa.  Two  daughters  of  William  Hall,  aged  seventeen  and  fifteen,  were  spared. 
All  the  other  whites,  men,  women,  and  children,  were  indiscriminately  massacred. 


140  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

company  and  the  twenty-five  Chicago  men  as  guard;  we  made  quite 
an  imposing  appearance.  We  arranged  ourselves  so  as  to  cover  near  a 
mile  in  length  on  the  road.  It  was  afterward  said  that  the  Indians  were 
watching  us,  and  would  have  made  an  attack  but  for  our  formidable 
appearance  and  numbers.  We  traveled  forty  miles  that  day,  and  reached 
Chicago  by  sunset. 

There  was  no  extra  room  for  us  when  we  arrived  in  Chicago.  Two 
or  three  families  of  our  number  were  put  into  a  room  fifteen  feet  square 
with  as  many  more  families,  and  here  we  staid,  crowding  and  jamming 
each  other,  for  several  days.  One  afternoon,  as  if  to  increase  our  misery, 
a  thunderstorm  came  up,  and  the  end  of  our  room  was  broken  in  by  a 
stroke  of  lightning  while  we  were  taking  a  lunch.  None  of  us  were  hurt, 
but  the  lightning  passed  down  the  wall  to  the  room  below  us,  leaving  a 
charred  seam  within  a  few  inches  of  a  keg  of  powder.  But  our  room, 
which  was  in  the  second  story,  was  filled  with  a  distressing  odor  of  sul- 
phurous smoke,  and  the  report  was  the  loudest  I  ever  heard.  The  next 
morning  our  first  babe  was  born,  and  during  our  stay  fifteen  tender 
infants  were  added  to  our  number.  One  may  imagine  the  confusion 
of  the  scene — children  were  crying  and  women  were  complaining  within 
doors,  while  without  the  tramp  of  soldiery,  the  rolling  of  drums,  and  the 
roar  of  cannon  added  to  the  din;  and  yet  out  of  this  confusion  we  tried 
to  arrange  order.  The  soldiery  were  drawn  up  in  solid  column  near  one 
of  the  houses,  whose  friendly  steps  were  my  only  pulpit.  Here  I  stood 
and  pointed  out  to  them  the  "Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sins 
of  the  world." 

In  a  few  days  the  inhabitants  of  Walker's  Grove,  now  Plainfield, 
returned  to  the  fort  with  fifty  men  for  a  guard  and  Captain  Buckmaster 
in  command.  They  were  able  to  raise,  that  year,  some  buckwheat  and  a 
few  potatoes.  Mrs.  Beggs  was  yet  too  delicate  in  health  for  me  to  think 
of  leaving.  She  was  still  confined  to  her  room,  yet  our  stay  here  was  of 
short  duration.  Major  Whistler  came  on  with  his  troops,4  and  at  the 
first  roar  of  his  cannon  on  the  lake  shore  there  was  great  rejoicing.  But 
our  joy  was  soon  turned  to  heaviness.  Instead  of  receiving  protection, 
we  were  turned  out  of  our  shelter  in  order  to  give  place  to  his  men,  who 
had  been  exposed  to  the  rough  winds  on  the  lake.  The  order  came  for 

4  In  the  spring  of  1831  Fort  Dearborn  had  been  abandoned  and  the  garrison  ordered 
to  Green  Bay.  Maj.  William  Whistler  now  came  from  Fort  Niagara  with  two  companies 
of  the  Second  Infantry  to  regarrison  and  command  Fort  Dearborn.  Until  his  coming  the 
only  military  force  at  Chicago  had  been  the  hastily  enrolled  levies  of  citizens  of  the  place  and 
adjoining  region,  and  an  equally  hastily  enrolled  force  of  Michigan  militia. 


CHICAGO  IN  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR  14! 

us  to  leave  the  garrison.  We  should  have  rebelled  could  it  have  been 
of  any  use,  but  there  was  no  help  for  us  but  to  obey.  The  Major  and 
his  family  came  into  our  room,  and  we  were  turned  out  into  the  pitiless 
rainstorm  that  afternoon.  We  found  shelter  in  an  open  house,  where, 
from  the  dampness  and  exposure,  Mrs.  Beggs  and  the  child  took  a  severe 
cold.  Colonel  Richard  Hamilton  then  gave  us  the  use  of  one  of  his 
small  rooms.  We  made  up  our  bed  on  the  floor,  where  the  cold  and 
dampness  caused  both  mother  and  child  to  take  additional  cold. 
I  also  became  sick  from  the  exposure,  and  matters  indeed  wore  a 
gloomy  look  to  us.  I  trust,  however,  that  on  the  day  of  reckoning  it 
will  be  said  unto  Colonel  Hamilton  for  his  great  kindness  unto  us, 
"I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in;  enter  thou  into  the  joys  of  thy 
Lord." 

I  then  proposed  to  Mrs.  Beggs  to  go  to  Plainfield.  She  consented, 
saying  it  would  be  no  better  to  die  here  than  to  be  killed  by  the  Indians 
on  the  road.  Forty  miles  through  the  wilderness!  Some  had  been 
killed  but  a  few  days  before,  although,  happily  for  us,  we  did  not  know 
of  it  at  that  time.  We  started  on  our  journey,  our  only  defense  being 
one  loaded  pistol,  a  strong  faith  in  the  living  God,  and  the  promise, 
"No  harm  shall  befall  thee."  We  reached  the  fort  late  in  the  day, 
quite  safe,  but  much  fatigued.  I  then  decided  to  secure  a  guard  to 
Ottawa,  and  to  get  Mrs.  Beggs  on  to  Washington  to  her  mother's. 
There  had  been  a  company  of  men  detached  to  go  either  to  Ottawa  or 
Chicago  to  draw  rations  for  the  soldiers.  They  decided  to  go  to  Chicago. 
They  were  to  start  the  next  morning.  That  afternoon,  however,  Colonel 
Owens,  Indian  agent,  came  down  with  the  news  that  General  Scott  had 
come  to  Chicago  with  his  men,  and  also  brought  the  cholera,  a  worse- 
dreaded  foe  than  the  Indians.6  This  decided  the  men  to  go  to  Ottawa 
for  rations,  and  by  that  means  we  obtained  a  guard. 

The  drive  to  Ottawa  through  the  hot  sun  and  over  the  rough  road 
came  very  near  exhausting  my  wife  and  child,  yet  we  ventured  on  to 
Washington  alone.  The  Indian  difficulties  being  by  this  time  pretty 
much  over,  I  concluded  to  return  alone  to  the  fort.  In  the  meantime 
the  inhabitants  had  fled  from  the  cholera,  leaving  Chicago  almost 
deserted.  Some  of  them  had  come  to  our  fort,  while  others  went  to 
Danville.  Numbers  died  of  the  cholera,  and  General  Scott's  men  had 

6  General  Scott  had  been  sent  west  with  a  considerable  force  of  soldiers  gathered  from 
various  posts  on  the  seaboard,  to  take  charge  of  the  war  against  Black  Hawk's  followers. 
The  Asiatic  cholera  which  ravaged  the  country  this  year,  came  west  about  the  same  time. 
It  struck  Scott's  army  en  route,  with  such  force  that  for  the  time  being  it  was  completely 
disrupted,  and  the  war  was  ended  before  it  could  be  brought  into  action.  For  an  account  of 
the  cholera  visitation  see  Quaife,  Chicago  and  the  Old  Northwest,  329-37. 


141  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

to  remain  till  the  epidemic  had  subsided.  It  was  not  long  after  this 
that  General  Scott  gave  chase  to  Black  Hawk,  and  effectually  drove 
the  Indians  away.  We  now  had  peace  in  all  our  borders.  There  was 
no  hope  now  of  my  doing  any  thing  in  my  station,  so  I  concluded  to 
go  on  a  visit  to  my  father's,  in  Clark  county,  Indiana.  From  this  place 
I  started  again  for  Washington,  a  journey  of  three  hundred  miles,  which 
cost  me  an  outlay  of  six  cents.  I  found  my  wife  and  child  very  much 
improved  in  health,  which  gave  me  renewed  courage,  and  I  thanked 
God  for  his  great  blessings. 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833 

IT  this  time  our  whole  schemes  of  autumnal  travel  had  to 
undergo  revision.  We  found  on  our  arrival  at  Detroit, 
that  no  steamboats  were  likely  to  ascend  the  Great  Lakes 
at  this  season  of  the  year;  and  though  we  might  have  got 
passage  to  the  head  of  Lake  Huron,  or  to  Green  Bay,  on  board  one  of 
the  sloops  which  navigate  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  the  delay  con- 
sequent upon  awaiting  a  fitting  opportunity,  and  the  long  and  uncertain 
voyage,  were  both  reasons  why  we  should  prefer  pursuing  another. 

Hearing  therefore  that  a  treaty  with  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Potta- 
wattomies  was  expected  to  take  place  at  Chicago,  towards  the  lower 
extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  that  means  might  be  found  to  cross  the 
state  of  Illinois  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  we  resolved  upon  pro- 
ceeding to  Chicago. 

A  public  vehicle  conveyed  us  across  the  peninsula  of  Michigan, 
over  a  tract  of  country,  which  five  or  six  years  ago,  had  been  traversed 
by  nothing  but  Indian  trails,  but  which  was  now  rapidly  filling  with  a 
settled  population  from  the  eastward,  and  all  the  concomitants  of 
ploughed  land,  girdled  trees,  log  huts, — towns,  villages,  and  farms. 

As  far  as  the  town  of  Niles,  the  route  was  good.  But  here  we  had 
to  cha^e  the  regular  stage  for  an  open  vehicle  of  a  stronger  build, 
furnisi.ed  with  three  or  four  rows  of  rude  spring  seats. 

Before  I  proceed  to  mention  the  incidents  of  the  latter  part  of  our 
journey,  I  may  observe  that  the  surface  of  the  peninsula  is  very  varied, 
and  part  of  it,  in  Hillsdale  County  for  instance,  abounds  in  the  most 
beautiful  natural  park  scenery  you  can  conceive.  A  more  lovely  undu- 
lating country,  covered  with  rich  grass,  interspersed  with  forest  or 
groups  of  trees,  and  varied  by  limpid  lakes,  we  never  beheld.  As  we 
advanced,  the  prairies  increased  in  number  and  size;  and  among  them 
the  traveler  notices  as  a  remarkable  feature  of  the  country,  the  wide 
meadows  containing  a  perfectly  level  and  unbroken  area  of  several 
square  miles,  surrounded  by  dense  forests.  They  have  all  the  appear- 
ance of  being  the  beds  of  lakes  long  dried  up,  raised  by  the  accumulation 
of  vegetable  matter  and  rubbish  washed  down  from  the  bluffs,  and  are 
generally  found  to  consist  of  the  very  richest  soil.  The  most  extensive 


144  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

over  which  we  passed,  was  the  White  Pigeon  Prairie,  a  tract,  upon  which, 
four  years  before,  there  was  not  a  single  white  inhabitant,  but  which  was 
now  completely  occupied  by  one  hundred  and  sixty  flourishing  farms. 

As  far  as  Niles  on  St.  Joseph's  River,  our  journey  had  been  con- 
ducted without  adventure.  From  thence  it  was  calculated  that  two 
days'  journey  would  bring  us  to  Chicago.  By  this  time  a  steamboat 
communication  has  been  probably  established  between  St.  Joseph's 
River  and  Chicago;  but  as  it  was,  we  had  to  follow  the  old  Indian  trail 
for  a  hundred  miles,  round  the  lower  southern  shores  of  the  lake.  Twelve 
hours'  rough  jolting,  brought  us  to  a  farm  about  twenty  miles  from  the 
extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  about  sixty-five  from  Chicago,  if  I 
recollect  right;  and  here  we  took  up  our  night  quarters,  preparatory  to 
a  day's  journey,  which  was  called  the  most  difficult  of  the  whole,  and  so 
in  truth  we  found  it. 

The  middle  of  September  was  passed,  and  hitherto  the  season  had 
favored  us.  Yet  the  steady  warm  weather  which  distinguishes  the 
North  American  summer,  had  been  for  some  time  on  the  decline,  and 
during  our  passage  of  Upper  Canada  earlier  in  the  month,  we  began 
already  to  note  the  first  indications  of  the  gradual  approach  of  the  fall  of 
the  year. 

The  maize  fields  appeared  utterly  deprived  of  their  luxuriant  ver- 
dure, and  were  turned  to  a  pale  yellow,  while  the  dry  and  crisp  leaves 
rustled  incessantly  in  the  morning  wind;  bright  shocks  of  wheat  studded 
the  cultivated  lands,  and  the  buckwheat  fields  were  now  of  a  deep  brown, 
and  without  perfume. 

The  leaves  of  the  maple  began  to  turn  orange,  and  those  of  the 
sumac  bright  red.  The  air  was  filled  with  thistledown,  floating  hither 
and  thither,  guided  by  the  hand  of  God  to  the  place  of  its  future  home. 
The  frog  and  the  catydid  were  silent; — the  prairies  swarmed  with  winged 
grasshoppers,  green,  red,  and  yellow.  The  gay  flowers  of  the  summer 
had  shed  their  petals  and  had  fallen  to  seed,  while  above  them  rose  the 
tall  and  gaudy  sunflower  tribe,  clothing  the  prairie  with  gold.  The 
asters  and  gentiana  were  all  seen  in  full  flower,  and  in  the  damp  forest 
the  fungus  sprung  into  existence  from  the  fibers  of  the  decaying  tree. 

Ten  days  later,  on  the  morning  of  our  early  departure  in  the  open 
and  uneasy  vehicle  from  the  farm  last  mentioned,  as  we  plunged  into  a 
tract  of  a  deep  forest,  called  the  Ten  Mile  Wood,  many  further  tokens 
of  the  advancing  fall  were  added.  The  air  was  full  of  the  boding  sounds 
of  autumn.  Heavy  clouds  hung  low  upon  the  earth,  and  deepened  the 
shades  of  the  labyrinth  of  tall  towering  trees,  oak,  beech,  and  black 
walnut, — beneath  whose  covert  we  were  seemingly  buried.  As  we  toiled 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  145 

along  the  deep,  narrow  trail  in  the  dim,  green  twilight  below,  occasional 
blasts  might  be  heard  agitating  the  upper  branches,  and  sending  down 
a  pattering  shower  of  heavy  drops  into  the  depths  of  the  forest.  About 
us  everything  betokened  decay;  mouldering  stumps;  prostrate  trees 
falling  to  powder,  half  shrouded  in  fungi  and  moss;  dying  grass  and 
leaves.  Ever  and  anon  a  growl  of  distant  thunder  echoed  through  the 
solitude,  and  occasionally  a  bright  mournful  gleam  would  be  cast  down 
upon  us  from  the  bright  changing  foliage  clothing  the  upper  branches 
of  some  giant  tree. 

Every  bird  seemed  snug  in  its  covert;  the  catbird  and  the  whip- 
poorwill  were  silent,  and  even  the  gay  blue  jay  had  ended  his  shrill 
bickerings  with  his  mates. 

For  four  hours  were  we  toiling  through  this  unbroken  belt  of  forest, 
and  then  emerged  upon  a  little  opening,  with  its  scattered  oaks,  lake, 
log  houses,  and  clearing;  where  a  short  halt  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  four  horses  which  formed  our  team.  Much  precious  time  was, 
however,  wasted  here  from  the  loss  of  a  package  of  bedding  from  the 
tail  of  our  wagon,  in  search  of  which  a  man  had  to  ride  back  many  miles 
into  the  forest. 

We  now  got  on  five  miles  further  to  the  Calemeck  Creek,  where 
we  had  another  halt,  and  a  feud,  arising  from  one  of  the  party  wishing 
to  remain  here  all  night,  rather  than  commence  at  that  period  of  the 
day,  the  passage  of  a  tract  which  we  were  told  would  be  upwards  of 
thirty  miles  of  most  dreary  road  along  the  southern  margin  of  Lake 
Michigan,  without  the  possibility  of  shelter. 

But  it  is  time  to  introduce  you  to  the  dramatis  personae. 

Our  long  and  narrow  vehicle  was  furnished  with  four  seats,  one 
behind  the  other.  The  first  was  occupied  by  the  driver,  a  good-natured 
young  man,  whose  capacity  in  the  guidance  of  his  four  steeds  over  stump 
and  logs  was  no  way  inferior  to  those  of  his  craft,  characterized  in  former 
letters.  By  his  side  sat  a  heavy  Pennsylvanian  farmer,on  a  land-hunting 
expedition;  a  man  of  few  words  and  apparently  few  ideas,  for  the  only 
speech  of  his  which  is  on  record,  was  uttered  about  noon  on  the  second 
day's  journey,  when  he  suddenly  asked,  "Does  cattle  in  this  country 
die  o"  the  morran,  sir?"  and  he  was  instantly  set  a  musing  for  the  rest  of 
the  journey  by  the  answer,  "No!"  which  was  promptly  returned  by  his 
neighbor.1 

1  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  this  single  stagecoach  contained,  in  addition  to  Latrobe, 
another  British  traveler  intent  on  writing  a  book  about  America.  This  was  Patrick  Shirreff, 
author  of  A  Tour  through  North  America;  together  with  a  Comprehensive  View  of  the  Canadas 
and  United  States,  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1835.  Comparison  of  his  narrative  with  that 
of  Latrobe  indicates  that  the  latter's  "heavy  Pennsylvanian  farmer"  was  his  fellow  countryman 
and  author.  His  book  shows  that  Shirreff,  while  a  farmer,  was  a  shrewd  and  intelligent  man. 


146  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

On  the  second  bench  sat,  with  a  fine  noble  greyhound  at  their  feet, 
an  original  couple,  man  and  wife;  of  whom  I  knew  nothing  till  the 
morning  of  this  day,  which  you  will  find  is  likely  to  be  a  long  one. 

We  had  noticed  that  the  husband  was  a  hale,  upright  old  man, 
probably  upwards  of  seventy,  and  the  wife  like  most  American  wives 
of  her  class,  very  retiring  and  silent.  Now  and  then,  as  we  rolled 
swiftly  and  noiselessly  along,  over  a  level  piece  of  prairie,  I  had  dis- 
tinguished the  voice  of  the  man,  uttering  divers  shrewd,  and  even 
original  sentences;  interlarded  by  an  abundance  of  profane  oaths. 
But,  as  before  observed,  we  had  not  as  yet  come  sufficiently  in  contact 
to  know  much  about  him,  the  more  so,  as  in  Major  W.  an  officer  of  the 
staff  of  the  United  States  army,  who  sat  on  the  third  bench,  (while  that 
in  the  rear  was  occupied  by  Pourtales  and  myself,)  we  had  the  society 
of  a  most  accomplished  and  gentlemanly  man,  with  regard  to  whom 
we  had  only  one  regret,  that  our  intercourse  was  so  brief.  His  neigh- 
bor was  an  original  in  his  way  also;  a  back  settler,  as  good-natured  as 
it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be,  but  a  bore  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
His  name  I  cannot  record,  but  he  went  among  us  by  the  sobriquet  of 
"Snipe",  from  the  peculiar  form  of  his  nose  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
would  push  it  forward  into  every  conversation.  He  was  on  his  way 
to  Chicago,  to  be  present  at  the  impending  treaty,  with  a  view  to  prefer 
certain  claims  to  the  government  commissioner  for  the  loss  of  hogs, 
which,  doubtless,  the  wolves  had  eaten;  but  which,  no  matter,  the 
Indians  might  be  made  to  pay  for. 

Captain  John  Cook,  (such  we  found  was  the  "given-name"  and  pa- 
tronymic of  the  male  occupant  of  the  second  bench,)  a  New  Yorker,  and 
moreover  a  Revolutionary  hero,  became  an  object  of  attention  at  the 
termination  of  the  Ten  Mile  Wood,  when  he  came  prominently  forward 
as  the  proprietor  of  the  lost  bedding;  and  we  were  sorry  to  find  that  he 
was  principally  distinguished  for  the  extreme  intemperance,  bitterness, 
and  profanity,  with  which  his  language,  otherwise  both  shrewd  and 
witty,  was  spiced.  Though  the  loss  of  time  was  a  serious  matter  to  us 
under  the  circumstances,  yet  it  may  be  conceived  that  we  yielded  with 
a  good  grace  to  the  necessity,  and  waited  patiently  till  his  baggage  had 
been  recovered.  Little  thanks,  however  we  got  for  it.  At  the  Calemeck, 
it  was  determined  by  the  majority  in  opposition  to  his  opinion,  that  we 
ought  to  proceed,  as  the  weather,  though  threatening,  was  not  bad, 
and  might  be  worse. — And  forward  we  went. 

The  approach  to  the  shore  of  the  great  Lake  was  first  notified  by 
the  rising  sandy  hillocks  covered  with  white  oak  and  pine.     By  degrees 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  147 

these  were  surmounted,  and  we  arrived  at  the  back  of  the  huge  white, 
bare,  sand  hills,  which,  rising  abruptly  to  the  height  of  two  hundred 
feet  with  a  breadth  of  a  mile  and  upwards,  hem  in  the  wide-sweeping 
waste  of  waters,  and  form  the  line  of  division  between  the  strand  and 
the  fertile  country  further  inland:  they  present  a  striking  spectacle. 
One  by  one,  as  our  strength  gave  us  advantage,  our  party  descended 
from  them  to  the  beach,  and  it  was  long  before  the  wagon  followed  with 
the  aged  couple.  Two  or  three  other  pedestrians  had  come  forward 
with  us  from  the  Calemeck. 

The  aspect  of  the  broad  expanse  of  the  lake  swelling  to  the  horizon, 
and  for  hundreds  of  miles  beyond,  was  sublime,  but  it  was  hardly  beauti- 
ful. A  narrow  band  of  sand,  with  a  few  trees,  stretching  away  from  us 
to  the  east  and  west,  and  a  shore  strewed  with  huge  trunks  of  trees  and 
the  wrecks  of  boats  and  vessels  bleached  with  wind  and  wave,  formed 
the  landscape.  All  vegetation  appeared  choked  by  the  fine  white  sand, 
swept  up  from  the  deeps,  and  gradually  driving  back  the  water,  by  its 
rise  and  accumulation. 

The  total  absence  of  harbors  round  this  southern  extremity  of  the 
lake,  has  caused  the  wreck  of  many  a  vessel,  as  the  action  of  a  storm  from 
the  northward  upon  such  a  wide  expanse  of  fresh  waters  is  tremendous; 
and  from  the  great  height  and  violence  of  the  surf  which  then  thunders 
in  upon  the  base  of  the  sand  hills,  and  the  utter  solitude  of  this  coast, 
lives  are  seldom,  if  ever  saved. 

From  the  nature  of  the  soil  no  regular  road  can  ever  be  constructed. 
After  a  storm,  when  the  waves  have  beat  the  strand,  and  made  it  com- 
pact and  firm,  a  light  carriage  may  travel  with  ease,  but  as  we  found  it, 
nothing  could  have  been  more  fatiguing  both  for  the  horses  and  ourselves; 
and  it  was  soon  seen  that  long  before  we  could  reach  a  human  habitation 
we  should  be  benighted. 

Hour  succeeded  hour,  and  we  seemed  to  be  making  no  progress,  as 
we  crawled  along  in  the  shallow  edge  of  the  waters  where  the  sand  was 
hardest.  The  evening  was  calm,  and  the  clear  waters  of  the  lake  rippled 
to  our  feet  in  short  waves.  A  band  of  splendidly  illuminated  clouds 
appeared  rising  from  the  water  line  to  the  northward,  growing  brighter 
and  brighter  till  sunset,  when,  as  the  twilight  thickened,  and  they  grew 
faint,  a  bright  stream  of  lightning  flickered  along  the  horizon  to  the  N. 
and  N.E.  The  deep  blue  shade  of  the  rising  thunder  clouds  settled 
down  deeper  and  deeper  upon  the  surface  of  the  lake  below  them,  as 
night  drew  on.  Then  came  a  spectacle  such  as  we  shall  probably  never 
see  again.  About  eight  o'clock,  as  we  crawled  along  the  yielding  sand 
high  towering  masses  of  cloud,  piled  one  upon  another  far  into  the 


148  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

heavens,  were  seen  reared  over  the  lake,  while  the  level  horizon  of  the 
latter  was  indicated  in  the  thickening  gloom  by  the  blood-red  lightning 
which  shot  momentarily  at  the  base.  On  the  other  hand,  the  crescent 
of  a  sickly  moon  was  struggling  with  broken  layers  of  dark  clouds. 
Suddenly  a  broad  luminous  arch  appeared  rising  like  magic  from  the 
northward  towards  the  zenith,  spanning  the  thunder  clouds,  and  drawing 
after  it  a  number  of  quivering  and  shifting  perpendicular  rays,  through 
which  the  great  northern  constellations  gleamed  now  faint,  then  bright. 
It  was  the  aurora  borealis,  and  there  it  continued  to  hang,  alternately 
shifting  its  streamers  from  east  to  west,  and  from  west  to  east,  while 
the  reflections  of  its  flickering  light  moved  duskily  in  accordance  with 
it  from  one  side  of  the  liquid  mirror  to  another. 

But  there  was  one  element  of  this  mingled  scene  of  beauty  and 
sublimity,  which  soon  got  the  ascendancy;  and  after  half  an  hour's 
pause,  during  which  we  owned  we  had  never  seen  a  spectacle  of  such 
peculiar  character,  both  light  and  shade  were  confounded  in  the  quick 
broad  glare  of  the  nearer  tempest,  as  bursting  over  the  water,  it  sailed 
slowly  with  its  veil  of  mist  across  the  heavens  to  the  eastward.  A  second 
echoing  storm  which  almost  instantly  followed,  moved  further  to  the 
south;  and  involving  us  for  an  hour  in  its  insufferable  glare,  deluged  us 
with  rain.  Three  others  followed,  with  half  an  hour's  interval  between 
each,  and  when  at  eleven  o'clock  the  last  went  off  reverberating  among 
the  sand  hills  to  the  eastward,  leaving  the  sky  comparatively  clear, 
twinkling  with  stars  and  still  traversed  by  a  few  fading  rays  of  the 
aurora  borealis, — our  coachman,  whose  good-humor  nothing  had  broken, 
told  us  that  further  advance  was  utterly  impossible.  We  had  of  course 
walked  the  greater  part  of  the  time  since  we  passed  the  Calemeck,  and 
it  was  said  we  were  still  fifteen  miles  from  the  nearest  human  habitation. 
However,  we  might  as  well  walk  on,  as  lie  on  the  wet  sand;  and  Pourtales, 
Snipe,  a  Canadian,  and  myself  started  forward. 

I  have  had,  as  you  know,  my  share  of  walking,  rough  and  smooth;1 
but  such  a  march  I  am  by  no  means  desirous  of  repeating.  The  even 
beach,  which  we  had  hitherto  taken  advantage  of,  by  walking  within 
the  water  line,  was  now  at  an  end,  and  as  we  proceeded  we  had  to  choose 
between  a  band  of  deep  soft  sand  on  the  higher  part  of  the  shore  or  a 
steep  bank  of  minute  pebbles  heaped  up  many  feet  in  thickness  close 
to  the  water;  advance  upon  either  of  which  in  the  darkness,  was  accom- 
panied by  an  expenditure  of  strength  quite  out  of  proportion  with  the 
progress  which  our  most  desperate  efforts  could  effect. 

However,  to  move  forward  was  the  only  alternative.     Towards  the 

1  l.at robe  was  noted  for  his  Alpine  exploits. 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  149 

close  of  the  first  hour  after  midnight  our  little  band  had  become  scat- 
tered, from  the  difference  of  strength  and  perseverance;  when,  plunging 
doggedly  forward  wrapt  up  in  my  own  thoughts,  and  only  bent  on  reach- 
ing a  human  habitation,  whence  aid  might  be  sent  to  the  party; — a 
slight  noise  made  me  halt,  lift  up  my  eyes,  and  it  was  with  a  degree  of 
surprise  which  you  may  imagine,  that  I  found  myself  standing  close  to 
a  blanketed  figure  of  a  painted  Pottawattomie  Indian  leading  a  horse. 
His  surprise  seemed  equal  to  mine.  We  stared  at  each  other  for  an 
instant,  uttered  one  monosyllabic  salutation,  and  passed; — half  a  mile 
back  he  stumbled  upon  Pourtales  and  the  Canadian,  who,  in  spite  of 
his  being  as  deaf  as  a  post,  struck  a  bargain  with  him  for  his  nag;  and 
they  shortly  after  passed  me,  both  mounted  on  the  back  of  the  hardy 
little  animal.  Many  long  and  fatiguing  miles  still  remained,  but  I 
scrambled  on  in  silence,  and  in  about  two  hours  after,  gained  the  cluster 
of  log  cabins  where  my  comrade  had  some  time  preceded  me,  and  was 
laudably  engaged  in  attempting  to  prevail  upon  the  inmates  to  give  us 
some  food.  Bread  and  whiskey,  with  a  few  potatoes,  were  all  that  could 
be  obtained,  and  that  not  without  a  world  of  persuasion  and  trouble; 
and  thus  refreshed,  we  laid  down  on  the  floor,  and  tried  to  get  a  little 
rest;  not  however  before  we  had  despatched  the  Indian  back  to  our 
laggards  with  some  corn  for  the  horses,  and  bread  and  whiskey  for  our 
fellow  passengers.  Every  square  foot  of  flooring  in  both  huts  was 
crowded  with  occupants. 

It  was  some  time  after  daybreak,  when,  though  awake,  having  shut 
my  ears  pertinaciously  for  a  while  to  the  continued  talking  around,  and 
been  trampled  on  by  divers  passengers  from  one  corner  of  the  hut  to 
another,  I  was  reminded  by  a  hearty  kick,  that  it  was  advisable  to  rise, 
and  see  how  matters  were  going  on. 

The  wagon  had  just  arrived,  having  got  forward  no  one  could  tell 
how. 

Captain  John  Cook  was  holding  forth  to  a  crowd  of  about  a  dozen 
stragglers  apparently  convened  together,  to  discuss  some  subject  of  im- 
portance, but  which  we  had  not  the  leisure,  at  first,  to  pay  attention  to. 
He  had  consoled  himself  for  the  mischances  of  the  night  by  repeated  drams, 
and  now  was  just  in  that  state  when  the  strings  of  both  the  tongue  and  of 
reason  seem  to  be  endued  with  uncommon  elasticity.  His  earnestness 
rose  higher  and  higher,  and  his  gesticulations  became  more  and  more 
violent; — and  about  the  time  that  the  horses  were  put  to  the  wagon,  and 
we  were  preparing  to  proceed,  our  curiosity  was  sufficiently  excited  to 
make  us  attentive  to  what  was  going  on.  Imagine  our  astonishment, 
when  we  found  that  we  ourselves  were  the  subject  of  his  declamation. 


150  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

A  dislike,  which  he  seems  to  have  conceived  to  us  as  Europeans,  from 
the  very  first  moment  we  had  taken  quiet  possession  of  the  rearward 
seat  of  the  vehicle,  had  been  gathering  strength  day  by  day.  It  had 
been  incited  from  the  circumstance,  of  our  not  having  been  aware  of  the 
fall  of  his  bedding  from  the  tail  of  the  wagon;  and  this  hidden  combustion 
had  been  fanned  by  his  discovery  at  the  Calemeck,  that  though  foreigners, 
and,  as  he  judged,  Britishers, — we  had  gained  the  good-will  and  respect 
of  the  driver  and  the  other  passengers.  To  us  he  ascribed  his  defeat  in 
attempting  to  detain  the  party  at  that  place,  and  consequently  the 
disaster  and  fatigue  of  the  ensuing  night, — though  we  surely  had  suffered 
more  than  himself  and  his  good  helpmate,  who  had  all  along  kept  their 
seats  in  the  wagon,  and  had  been  as  well  protected  as  circumstances 
admitted  of.  The  rain  had  acted,  like  water  upon  quick-lime,  upon  his 
mixture  of  old  prejudices,  self-love,  offended  dignity,  and  dislike;  and 
after  the  morning  draughts  of  whiskey  the  smoldering  flame  burst  into 
the  air.  We  found  him  engaged  addressing  the  people  around  with 
inconceivable  gravity,  with  a  rigmarole  of  matter;  partly  descriptive, 
so  far  as  it  related  to  the  Revolutionary  War — his  own  achievements 
therein — the  bloody  battles  he  had  seen  in  his  youth,  especially  that 
of  Long  Island;  partly  didactic,  insomuch  as  it  embodied  dissertations 
upon  the  superexcellence  of  the  free  government  of  America,  over  that 
of  all  other  countries;  and  partly  pathetic,  in  so  far  as  he  made  many 
appeals  to  the  good  sense  and  patriotism  of  those  around,  that  they 
would  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  cheated  of  their  privileges,  by  two 
strangers  who  were  come  to  establish  foreign  despotism  among  them. 
This,  mixed  up  with  all  kinds  of  digressions  such  as  democratic  politicians 
are  wont  to  indulge  in,  when  combined  with  the  real  wit,  angry  feeling, 
and  tipsy  volubility  of  the  tall,  lank,  old  man,  his  immoveable  earnestness 
and  the  mysterious  tone  of  his  feeble  voice,  as  he  enforced  his  discourse 
upon  the  attention  of  all,  ourselves  included,  flourishing  a  dram-glass 
in  his  hand, — was  ludicrous  enough.  Finding  that  he  was  pulling  out 
more  stops,  to  wit,  the  trumpet,  cornet,  and  sesquialtra, — efforts  were 
made  by  the  bystanders  to  get  him  to  mount  the  wagon,  but  for  some 
time  without  success.  We  not  only  took  it  in  good  part,  and  without 
reply,  as  every  one  appeared  inclined  to  do,  but  I  may  truly  say  it 
would  have  been  with  the  best  inclination  to  enjoy  the  exhibition,  had 
it  not  been  for  his  poor  wife,  who  showed  by  her  continual  mute  en- 
deavors to  bring  him  to  order,  how  much  ashamed  she  was  of  the  con- 
duct of  her  mate,  and  for  our  kind  acquaintance  Major  W.  whose  vexa- 
tion, at  the  same  time  that  it  was  unnecessary,  was  that  which  every 
gentleman  would  have  felt  in  like  circumstances. 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  151 

The  man  was  old,  drunk,  and  angry;  what  better  excuse  could  have 
been  made  for  him.     His  surprise  at  meeting  with  no  sympathy  from 
the  bystanders  seemed  without  bounds;  and  with  the  conviction  that 
we  must  have  thrown  a  spell  over  them  also,  he  took  his  seat  in  the 
carriage.     The  Major,  Mrs.  Cook,  Snipe,  and  many  of  the  bystanders 
all  tried  to  persuade  him  to  be  quiet;  but  silence  could  not  be  imposed 
on  him.     When  we  set  off,  in  spite  of  the  jolting,  he  would  continue 
declaiming,  and  as  all  he  said  was  repeated  at  least  twenty  times  during 
the  ensuing  hour,  my  memory  has  preserved  a  specimen.     You  will 
remember  our  relative  positions.     "Is  it  to  be  borne,"  said  Captain 
Cook,  striving  to  rise  and  stand  up  in  the  wagon,  and  gesticulating 
violently.     "Is  it  to  be  borne  that  they  should  rule  all  things — that 
they  should  come  here  to  nullify  our  glorious  Revolution — to  change  our 
sentimental  ideas  of  revolutionary  principles?    Is  it" — Here  a  jolt,  com- 
bined with  his  wife's  incessant  pulling  at  his  coat-skirts,  brought  him 
rudely  down  on  his  seat.     "Is  it  thus,"  continued  he,  after  bending  down, 
and  throwing  a  fierce  look  into  the  recesses  of  the  funnel-shaped  bonnet 
which  shaded  the  lineaments  of  his  better  half — "that  they  think  to 
come  and  teach  us  ideas  of  liberty?    They  talk  of  their  pompous  kings 
and  princes,  and  lords  and  governments — but  we  are  the  true  libertines. 
They  think  to  rule  and  govern  us — we'll  fight  them,  from  a  cannon  to  a 
darning-needle — we'll  teach  them  to  know  the  difference  between  the 
Pope  and  Tom  Bell — we'll  curtail  their  pomposity!"     After  this  close, 
which  was  the  ordinary  manner  in  which  he  concluded  a  long  sentence, 
he  commonly  slurred  around  on  his  seat,  and  glancing  between  Snipe 
and  the  Major,  cast  upon  us  a  look  of  indescribably  ludicrous  menace, 
much  to  our  entertainment.    To  his  wife,  whose  attempts  to  quiet  him 
were  unceasing,  he  returned  most  bitter  language — accusing  her  of  being 
"an  old  Tory  from  her  youth,  and  born  in  New  Brunswick,  where  they 
eat  nothing  but  stewed  buckskin  inexpressibles  and  Irish  potatoes!" 
On  Snipe,  who  good-naturedly  interfered,  he  bestowed  a  torrent  of 
abuse.     The  Major  and  the  driver  had  in  vain  tried  to  bring  him  to 
reason.     At  length,  the  patience  of  the  latter  was  worn  out;    he  sud- 
denly drew  up,  and  turning  round,  addressed  the  pugnacious  old  soldier 
as  follows: — 

"Mister  Cook, — you  may  be  Captain,  and  Revolutionary  hero,  or 
what  you  will,  but  I'll  have  done  with  this.  What  have  those  gentle- 
men done  to  you  or  your's — when  have  they  given  you  a  wrong  word 
thaj  they  should  have  this  abuse?  If  they  are  Englishmen,  they  have 
been  civil  and  obliging,  and  kept  good-humored  all  the  road,  and  done 


152  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

as  others,  and  shown  no  airs;  and  as  long  as  they  do  that,  they  deserve  to 
travel  in  peace  and  quiet,  and  not  have  such  a  wicked  foul-mouthed  old 
fellow  let  loose  upon  them;  and  that  they  shall  do.  And  so  if  you 
cannot  hold  your  tongue,  you'll  get  down  and  walk;  and  I'd  have  seen 
you  out  in  no  time  long  ago,  were  it  not  for  your  good  wife  there." 

This  decided  speech  and  demeanor  in  our  conductor,  backed  by  a 
strong  and  indignant  remonstrance  from  the  Major,  and  the  twitchings 
of  his  wife,  had  some  effect.  Still  for  a  few  miles  he  continued  in  an 
undertone  to  maunder  and  declaim,  and  then  stoop  down  and  peep  into 
his  wife's  bonnet;  while  now  and  then  a  few  words  of  pathetic  import 
about  "the  sentimental  ideas  of  revolutionary  principles"  would  be 
borne  aft,  and  a  chuckle  about  "curtailing  our  pomposity!"  followed  by 
a  sudden  turn  and  a  comic  glance  of  wrath  and  indignation  upon  us. 
With  this  single  exception,  and  that  only  remembered  for  its  ludicrous 
character — far  and  long  as  we  traveled  in  the  United  States,  no  word  of 
insult  or  bravado  was  ever  addressed  to  me  as  an  Englishman.  It  is 
only  recorded  for  your  amusement,  and  in  consideration  of  the  picture 

being  unique. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

When  within  five  miles  of  Chicago,  we  came  to  the  first  Indian 
encampment.  Five  thousand  Indians  were  said  to  be  collected  round 
this  little  upstart  village,  for  the  prosecution  of  the  Treaty  by  which 
they  were  to  cede  their  lands  in  Michigan  and  Illinois,  and  of  this  you 
shall  hear  more  in  my  next. 

I  have  been  in  many  odd  assemblages  of  my  species,  but  in  few,  if 
any,  of  an  equally  singular  character  as  with  that  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  spent  a  week  at  Chicago. 

This  little  mushroom  town  is  situated  upon  the  verge  of  a  perfectly 
level  tract  of  country,  for  the  greater  part  consisting  of  open  prairie 
lands,  at  a  point  where  a  small  river  whose  sources  interlock  in  the  wet 
season  with  those  of  the  Illinois,  enters  Lake  Michigan.  It  however 
forms  no  harbor,  and  vessels  must  anchor  in  the  open  lake,  which  spreads 
to  the  horizon  to  the  north  and  east,  in  a  sheet  of  unbroken  extent. 

The  river,  after  approaching  nearly  at  right  angles,  to  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  the  lake,  makes  a  short  turn,  and  runs  to  the  southward 
parallel  to  the  beach.  Fort  Dearborn  and  the  lighthouse,  are  placed 
at  the  angle  thus  formed.  The  former  is  a  small  stockaded  enclosure 

*  At  this  point  in  the  narrative  the  author  digresses  for  a  considerable  discussion  of  the 
American  alliance  with  France  and  its  consequences,  which  we  omit  to  print. 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  153 

with  two  block-houses,  and  is  garrisoned  by  two  companies  of  infantry. 
It  had  been  nearly  abandoned  till  the  late  Indian  war  on  the  frontier 
made  its  occupation  necessary.  The  upstart  village  lies  chiefly  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river  above  the  fort.  When  the  proposed  steamboat 
communication  between  Chicago  and  the  St.  Joseph's  river,  which  lies 
forty  miles  distant  across  the  lake,  is  put  into  execution,  the  journey  to 
Detroit  may  be  effected  in  three  days,  whereas  we  had  been  upwards  of 
six  on  the  road. 

We  found  the  village  on  our  arrival  crowded  to  excess,  and  we  pro- 
cured with  great  difficulty  a  small  apartment;  comfortless,  and  noisy 
from  its  close  proximity  to  others,  but  quite  as  good  as  we  could  have 
hoped  for. 

The  Pottawattomies  were  encamped  on  all  sides, — on  the  wide 
level  prairie  beyond  the  scattered  village,  beneath  the  shelter  of  the  low 
woods  which  chequered  them,  on  the  side  of  the  small  river,  or  to  the 
leeward  of  the  sand  hills  near  the  beach  of  the  lake.  They  consisted  of 
three  principal  tribes  with  certain  adjuncts  from  smaller  tribes.  The 
main  divisions  are,  the  Pottawattomies  of  the  Prairie  and  those  of  the 
Forest,  and  these  are  subdivided  into  distinct  villages  under  their  several 
chiefs. 

The  general  government  of  the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  the 
scheme  of  removing  the  whole  Indian  population  westward  of  the 
Mississippi,  had  empowered  certain  gentlemen  to  frame  a  treaty  with 
these  tribes,  to  settle  the  terms  upon  which  the  cession  of  their  reserva- 
tions in  these  states  should  be  made. 

A  preliminary  council  had  been  held  with  the  chiefs  some  days  before 
our  arrival.  The  principal  commissioner  had  opened  it,  as  we  learnt, 
by  stating,  that,  "as  their  Great  Father  in  Washington  had  heard  that 
they  wished  to  sell  their  land,  he  had  sent  commissioners  to  treat  with 
them."  The  Indians  promptly  answered  by  their  organ,  "that  their 
Great  Father  in  Washington  must  have  seen  a  bad  bird  which  had  told 
him  a  lie,  for  far  from  wishing  to  sell  their  land,  they  wished  to  keep  it." 
The  commissioner,  nothing  daunted,  replied:  "that  nevertheless,  as 
they  had  come  together  for  a  council,  they  must  take  the  matter  into  con- 
sideration." He  then  explained  to  them  promptly  the  wishes  and  in- 
tentions of  their  Great  Father,  and  asked  their  opinion  thereon.  Thus 
pressed,  they  looked  at  the  sky,  saw  a  few  wandering  clouds,  and  straight- 
way adjourned  sine  die,  as  the  weather  is  not  clear  enough  for  so  solemn 
a  council. 

However,  as  the  treaty  had  been  opened,  provision  was  supplied  to 


154  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

them  by  regular  rations;  and  the  same  night  they  had  great  rejoicings, — 
danced  the  war-dance,  and  kept  the  eyes  and  ears  of  all  open  by  running 
howling  about  the  village. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  on  our  arrival.  Companies  of  old 
warriors  might  be  seen  sitting  smoking  under  every  bush;  arguing, 
palavering,  or  "powwowing,"  with  great  earnestness;  but  there  seemed 
no  possibility  of  bringing  them  to  another  council  in  a  hurry. 

Meanwhile  the  village  and  its  occupants  presented  a  most  motley 
scene. 

The  fort  contained  within  its  palisades  by  far  the  most  enlightened 
residents,  in  the  little  knot  of  officers  attached  to  the  slender  garrison. 
The  quarters  here  consequently  were  too  confined  to  afford  place  of 
residence  for  the  government  commissioners,  for  whom  and  a  crowd  of 
dependants,  a  temporary  set  of  plank  huts  were  erected  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river.  To  the  latter  gentlemen  we,  as  the  only  idle  lookers 
on,  were  indebted  for  much  friendly  attention;  and  in  the  frank  and 
hospitable  treatment  we  received  from  the  inhabitants  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
we  had  a  foretaste  of  that  which  we  subsequently  met  with  everywhere 
under  like  circumstances,  during  our  autumnal  wanderings  over  the 
frontier.  The  officers  of  the  United  States  army  have  perhaps  less 
opportunities  of  becoming  refined  than  those  of  the  navy.  They  are 
often,  from  the  moment  of  their  receiving  commissions,  after  the  termina- 
tion of  their  cadetship  at  West  Point,  and  at  an  age  when  good  society  is 
of  the  utmost  consequence  to  the  young  and  ardent,  exiled  for  long 
years  to  the  posts  on  the  northern  or  western  frontier,  far  removed  from 
cultivated  female  society,  and  in  daily  contact  with  the  refuse  of  the 
human  race.  And  this  is  their  misfortune — not  their  fault; — but 
wherever  we  have  met  with  them,  and  been  thrown  as  strangers  upon 
their  good  offices,  we  have  found  them  the  same  good  friends  and  good 
company. 

But  I  was  going  to  give  you  an  inventory  of  the  contents  of  Chicago, 
when  the  recollection  of  the  warm-hearted  intercourse  we  had  enjoyed 
with  many  fine  fellows  whom  probably  we  shall  neither  see  nor  hear  of 
again,  drew  me  aside. 

Next  in  rank  to  the  officers  and  commissioners,  may  be  noticed 
certain  storekeepers  and  merchants  resident  here;  looking  either  to  the 
influx  of  new  settlers  establishing  themselves  in  the  neighborhood,  or 
those  passing  yet  farther  to  the  westward,  for  custom  and  profit;  not  to 
forget  the  chance  of  extraordinary  occasions  like  the  present.  Add  to 
these  a  doctor  or  two,  two  or  three  lawyers,  a  land  agent,  and  five  or  six 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833 

hotel  keepers.     These  may  be  considered  as  stationary,  and  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  half  a  hundred  clapboard  houses  around  you. 

Then  for  the  birds  of  passage,  exclusive  of  the  Pottawattomies,  of 
whom  more  anon — and  emigrants  and  land-speculators  as  numerous  as 
the  sand.  You  will  find  horse-dealers,  and  horse-stealers, — rogues  of 
every  description,  white,  black,  brown,  and  red — half-breeds,  quarter- 
breeds,  and  men  of  no  breed  at  all; — dealers  in  pigs,  poultry,  and 
potatoes; — men  pursuing  Indian  claims,  some  for  tracts  of  land,  others, 
like  our  friend  Snipe,  for  pigs  which  the  wolves  had  eaten; — creditors  of 
the  tribes,  or  of  particular  Indians,  who  know  that  they  have  no  chance 
of  getting  their  money,  if  they  do  not  get  it  from  the  government 
agents; — sharpers  of  every  degree;  pedlars,  grog-sellers;  Indian  agents 
and  Indian  traders  of  every  description,  and  contractors  to  supply  the 
Pottawattomies  with  food.  The  little  village  was  in  an  uproar  from 
morning  to  night,  and  from  night  to  morning;  for,  during  the  hours 
of  darkness,  when  the  housed  portion  of  the  population  of  Chicago  strove 
to  obtain  repose  in  the  crowded  plank  edifices  of  the  village,  the  Indians 
howled,  sang,  wept,  yelled,  and  whooped  in  their  various  encampments. 
With  all  this,  the  whites  seemed  to  me  to  be  more  pagan  than  the  red  men. 

You  will  have  understood,  that  the  large  body  of  Indians,  collected 
in  the  vicinity,  consisted  not  merely  of  chiefs  and  warriors,  but  that  in 
fact  the  greater  part  of  the  whole  tribe  were  present.  For  where  the 
warrior  was  invited  to  feast  at  the  expense  of  the  government,  the  squaw 
took  care  to  accompany  him; — and  where  the  squaw  went,  the  children 
or  pappooses,  the  ponies,  and  the  innumerable  dogs  followed; — and  here 
they  all  were  living  merrily  at  the  cost  of  the  government. 

The  features  of  the  Pottawattomies  are  generally  broad  and  coarse: 
their  heads  large,  and  their  limbs  fuller  than  the  Osages.  Among  their 
warriors  you  rarely  see  one  with  the  head  shaved,  retaining  nothing  but 
the  scalp  lock.  On  the  contrary,  they  wear  it  bushy  and  long,  frequently 
plaited  into  long  tails,  sometimes  hanging  back  in  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
and  at  others  over  the  face  in  front.  Their  skulls  are  remarkably  flat 
behind. 

Of  their  dress,  made  up  as  it  is  of  a  thousand  varieties  of  apparel, 
but  little  general  idea  can  be  given.  There  is  nothing  among  them  that 
can  be  called  a  national  costume.  That  has  apparently  long  been  done 
away  with,  or  at  least  so  far  cloaked  under  their  European  ornaments, 
blankets,  and  finery,  as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable.  Each  seemed  to 
clothe  him  or  herself  as  best  suited  their  individual  means  or  taste. 
Those  who  possessed  the  means,  were  generally  attired  in  the  most  fan- 


156  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

tastic  manner,  and  the  most  gaudy  colors.  A  blanket  and  breechcloth 
was  possessed  with  a  very  few  exceptions  by  the  poorest  among  the 
males.  Most  added  leggings,  more  or  less  ornamented,  made  of  blue, 
scarlet,  green,  or  brown  broadcloth;  and  surcoats  of  every  color,  and 
every  material;  together  with  rich  sashes,  and  gaudy  shawl  or  handker- 
chief-turbans. 

All  these  diverse  articles  of  clothing,  with  the  embroidered  petticoats 
and  shawls  of  the  richer  squaws  and  the  complicated  headdress,  were 
covered  with  innumerable  trinkets  of  all  descriptions,  thin  plates  of 
silver,  beads,  mirrors,  and  embroidery.  On  their  faces,  the  black  and 
vermillion  paint  was  disposed  a  thousand  ways,  more  or  less  fanciful 
and  horrible.  Comparatively  speaking,  the  women  were  seldom  seen 
gaily  drest,  and  dandyism  seemed  to  be  more  particularly  the  prerogative 
of  the  males,  many  of  whom  spent  hours  at  the  morning  toilet.  I 
remember  seeing  one  old  fool,  who,  lacking  other  means  of  adornment 
and  distinction,  had  chalked  the  whole  of  his  face  and  bare  limbs  white. 

All,  with  a  very  few  exceptions,  seemed  sunk  into  the  lowest  state 
of  degradation,  though  some  missionary  efforts  have  been  made  among 
them  also,  by  the  American  societies.  The  Pottawattomie  language  is 
emphatic;  but  we  had  no  means  of  becoming  acquainted  with  its  dis- 
tinctive character,  or  learning  to  what  class  of  Indian  tongues  it  belonged. 

All  was  bustle  and  tumult,  especially  at  the  hour  set  apart  for  the 
distribution  of  the  rations. 

Many  were  the  scenes  which  here  presented  themselves,  portraying 
the  habits  of  both  the  red  men  and  the  demi-civilized  beings  around  them. 
The  interior  of  the  village  was  one  chaos  of  mud,  rubbish,  and  confusion. 
Frame  and  clapboard  houses  were  springing  up  daily  under  the  active 
axes  and  hammers  of  the  speculators,  and  piles  of  lumber  announced 
the  preparation  for  yet  other  edifices  of  an  equally  light  character. 
Races  occurred  frequently  on  a  piece  of  level  sward  without  the  village, 
on  which  temporary  booths  afforded  the  motley  multitude  the  means 
of  "stimulating";  and  betting  and  gambling  were  the  order  of  the  day. 
Within  the  vile  two-storied  barrack,  which,  dignified  as  usual  by  the 
title  of  hotel,  afforded  us  quarters,  all  was  in  a  state  of  most  appalling 
confusion,  filth,  and  racket.  The  public  table  was  such  a  scene  of  con- 
fusion, that  we  avoided  it  from  necessity.  The  French  landlord  was  a 
sporting  character,  and  everything  was  left  to  chance,  who,  in  the  shape 
of  a  fat  housekeeper,  fumed  and  toiled  round  the  premises  from  morning 
to  night. 

Within,  there  was  neither  peace  nor  comfort,  and  we  spent  much 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  157 

of  our  time  in  the  open  air.  A  visit  to  the  gentlemen  at  the  fort,  a  morn- 
ing's grouse-shooting,  or  a  gallop  on  the  broad  surface  of  the  prairie, 
filled  up  the  intervals  in  our  perturbed  attempts  at  reading  or  writing 
in  doors,  while  awaiting  the  progress  of  the  treaty. 

I  loved  to  stroll  out  toward  sunset  across  the  river,  and  gaze  upon  the 
level  horizon,  stretching  to  the  northwest  over  the  surface  of  the  prairie, 
dotted  with  innumerable  objects  far  and  near.  Not  far  from  the  river 
lay  many  groups  of  tents  constructed  of  coarse  canvas,  blankets,  and 
mats,  and  surmounted  by  poles,  supporting  meat,  mocassins,  and  rags. 
Their  vicinity  was  always  enlivened  by  various  painted  Indian  figures, 
dressed  in  the  most  gaudy  attire.  The  interior  of  the  hovels  generally 
displayed  a  confined  area,  perhaps  covered  with  a  few  half-rotten  mats 
or  shavings,  upon  which  men,  women,  children,  and  baggage,  were 
heaped  pell-mell. 

Far  and  wide  the  grassy  prairie  teemed  with  figures;  warriors 
mounted  or  on  foot,  squaws,  and  horses.  Here  a  race  between  three  or 
four  Indian  ponies,  each  carrying  a  double  rider,  whooping  and  yelling 
like  fiends.  There  a  solitary  horseman  with  a  long  spear,  turbaned  like 
an  Arab,  scouring  along  at  full  speed; — groups  of  hobbled  horses;  Indian 
dogs  and  children;  or  a  grave  conclave  of  grey  chiefs  seated  on  the  grass 
in  consultation. 

It  was  amusing  to  wind  silently  from  group  to  group — here  noting 
the  raised  knife,  the  sudden  drunken  brawl,  quashed  by  the  good- 
natured  and  even  playful  interference  of  the  neighbors;  there  a  party 
breaking  up  their  encampment,  and  falling  with  their  little  train  of 
loaded  ponies  and  wolfish  dogs,  into  the  deep  black  narrow  trail  running 
to  the  north.  You  peep  into  a  wigwam,  and  see  a  domestic  feud;  the 
chief  sitting  in  dogged  silence  on  the  mat,  while  the  women,  of  which 
there  were  commonly  two  or  three  in  every  dwelling,  and  who  appeared 
every  evening  even  more  elevated  with  the  fumes  of  whiskey  than  themales, 
read  him  a  lecture.  From  another  tent  a  constant  voice  of  wrangling 
and  weeping  would  proceed,  when  suddenly  an  offended  fair  one  would 
draw  the  mat  aside,  and  taking  a  youth  standing  without  by  the  hand, 
lead  him  apart,  and  sitting  down  on  the  grass,  set  up  the  most  inde- 
scribable whine  as  she  told  her  grief.  Then  forward  comes  an  Indian, 
staggering  with  his  chum  from  a  debauch;  he  is  met  by  his  squaw, 
with  her  child  dangling  in  a  fold  of  her  blanket  behind,  and  the  sobbing 
and  weeping  which  accompanies  her  whining  appeal  to  him,  as  she  hangs 
to  his  hand,  would  melt  your  heart,  if  you  did  not  see  that  she  was  quite 
as  tipsy  as  himself. 

Here  sitting  apart  and  solitary,  an  Indian  expends  the  exuberance 


158  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

of  his  intoxicated  spirits  in  the  most  ludicrous  singing  and  gesticulation; 
and  there  squat  a  circle  of  unruly  topers  indulging  themselves  in  the 
most  unphilosophic  and  excessive  peals  of  laughter. 

It  is  a  grievous  thing  that  government  is  not  stronghanded  enough 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  shameful  and  scandalous  sale  of  whiskey  to  these 
poor  miserable  wretches.  But  here  lie  casks  of  it  for  sale  under  the  very 
eye  of  the  commissioners,  met  together  for  purposes,  which  demand  that 
sobriety  should  be  maintained,  were  it  only  that  no  one  should  be  able 
to  lay  at  their  door  an  accusation  of  unfair  dealing,  and  of  having  taken 
advantage  of  the  helpless  Indian  in  a  bargain,  whereby  the  people  of  the 
United  States  were  to  be  so  greatly  the  gainers.  And  such  was  the 
state  of  things  day  by  day.  However  anxious  I  and  others  might  be 
to  exculpate  the  United  States  government  from  the  charge  of  cold  and 
selfish  policy  towards  the  remnant  of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  from  that 
of  resorting  to  unworthy  and  diabolical  means  in  attaining  possession 
of  their  lands, — as  long  as  it  can  be  said  with  truth,  that  drunkenness 
was  not  guarded  against,  and  that  the  means  were  furnished  at  the  very 
time  of  the  treaty,  and  under  the  very  nose  of  the  commissioners, — how 
can  it  be  expected  but  a  stigma  will  attend  every  transaction  of  this 
kind.  The  sin  may  lie  at  the  door  of  the  individuals  more  immediately 
in  contact  with  them;  but  for  the  character  of  the  people  as  a  nation, 
it  should  be  guarded  against,  beyond  a  possibility  of  transgression. 
Who  will  believe  that  any  act,  however  formally  executed  by  the  chiefs, 
is  valid,  as  long  as  it  is  known  that  whiskey  was  one  of  the  parties  to  the 
treaty. 

"But  how  sped  the  Treaty?"  you  will  ask. 

Day  after  day  passed.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  signal-gun  from  the 
fort  gave  notice  of  an  assemblage  of  chiefs  at  the  council  fire.  Reasons 
were  always  found  for  its  delay.  One  day  an  influential  chief  was  not 
in  the  way;  another,  the  sky  looked  cloudy,  and  the  Indian  never  per- 
forms any  important  business  except  the  sky  be  clear.  At  length,  on 
the  2 ist  of  September,  the  Pottawattomies  resolved  to  meet  the  com- 
missioners. We  were  politely  invited  to  be  present. 

The  council  fire  was  lighted  under  the  spacious  open  shed  on  the 
green  meadow,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  that  on  which  the 
fort  stood.  From  the  difficulty  of  getting  all  together,  it  was  late  in 
the  afternoon  when  they  assembled.  There  might  be  twenty  or  thirty 
chiefs  present,  seated  at  the  lower  end  of  the  enclosure;  while  the  com- 
missioners, interpreters,  &c.  were  at  the  upper.  The  palaver  was  opened 
by  the  principal  commissioner.  He  requested  to  know  why  he  and  his 


THE  TREATY  OF  1833  159 

colleagues  were  called  to  the  council?  An  old  warrior  arose,  and  in 
short  sentences,  generally  of  five  syllables,  delivered  with  a  monotonous 
intonation,  and  rapid  utterance,  gave  answer.  His  gesticulation  was 
appropriate,  but  rather  violent.  Rice,  the  half-breed  interpreter, 
explained  the  signification  from  time  to  time  to  the  audience;  and  it 
was  seen  that  the  old  chief,  who  had  got  his  lesson,  answered  one  question 
by  proposing  another,  the  sum  and  substance  of  his  oration  being — "that 
the  assembled  chiefs  wished  to  know  what  was  the  object  of  their  Great 
Father  at  Washington  in  calling  his  Red  Children  together  at  Chicago!" 

This  was  amusing  enough  after  the  full  explanation  given  a  week 
before  at  the  opening  session;  and,  particularly  when  it  was  recollected 
that  they  had  feasted  sumptuously  during  the  interval  at  the  expense 
of  their  Great  Father,  was  not  making  very  encouraging  progress.  A 
young  chief  rose  and  spoke  vehemently  to  the  same  purpose.  Hereupon 
the  commissioner  made  them  a  forcible  Jacksonian  discourse,  wherein 
a  good  deal  which  was  akin  to  threat,  was  mingled  with  exhortations 
not  to  play  with  their  Great  Father,  but  to  come  to  an  early  determina- 
tion, whether  they  would  or  would  not  sell  and  exchange  their  territory: 
and  this  done,  the  council  was  dissolved.  One  or  two  tipsy  old  chiefs 
raised  an  occasional  disturbance,  else  matters  were  conducted  with 
due  gravity. 

The  relative  positions  of  the  commissioner  and  the  whites  before 
the  council  fire,  and  that  of  the  red  children  of  the  forest  and  prairie, 
were  to  me  strikingly  impressive.  The  glorious  light  of  the  setting  sun 
streaming  in  under  the  low  roof  of  the  council  house,  fell  full  on  the 
countenances  of  the  former  as  they  faced  the  west — while  the  pale  light 
of  the  east,  hardly  lighted  up  the  dark  and  painted  lineaments  of  the 
poor  Indians,  whose  souls  evidently  clave  to  their  birthright  in  that 
quarter.  Even  though  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  their  removal, 
my  heart  bled  for  them  in  their  desolation  and  decline.  Ignorant  and 
degraded  as  they  may  have  been  in  their  original  state,  their  degradation 
is  now  tenfold,  after  years  of  intercourse  with  the  whites;  and  their  speedy 
disappearance  from  the  earth  appears  as  certain  as  though  it  were  already 
sealed  and  accomplished. 

Your  own  reflection  will  lead  you  to  form  the  conclusion,  and  it  will 
be  a  just  one, — that  even  if  he  had  the  will,  the  power  would  be  wanting, 
for  the  Indian  to  keep  his  territory;  and  that  the  business  of  arranging 
the  terms  of  an  Indian  treaty,  whatever  it  might  have  been  two  hundred 
years  ago,  while  the  Indian  tribes  had  not,  as  now,  thrown  aside  the  rude 
but  vigorous  intellectual  character  which  distinguished  many  among 
them,  now  lies  chiefly  between  the  various  traders,  agents,  creditors, 


160  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

and  half-breeds  of  the  tribes,  on  whom  custom  and  necessity  have  made 
the  degraded  chiefs  dependant,  and  the  government  agents.  When  the 
former  have  seen  matters  so  far  arranged  that  their  self-interest,  and 
various  schemes  and  claims  are  likely  to  be  fulfilled  and  allowed  to  their 
hearts'  content, — the  silent  acquiescence  of  the  Indian  follows  of  course; 
and  till  this  is  the  case,  the  treaty  can  never  be  amicably  effected.  In 
fine,  before  we  quitted  Chicago  on  the  25th,  three  or  four  days  later, 
the  treaty  with  the  Pottawattomies  was  concluded, — the  commissioners 
putting  their  hands,  and  the  assembled  chiefs  their  paws  to  the  same. 
By  it,  an  apparently  advantageous  "swop"  was  made  for  both 
parties; — the  main  conditions  of  which,  if  the  information  we  received 
was  correct,  were, — that  the  Indians  should  remove  from  the  territory 
they  now  occupied,  within  three  years  time — being  conveyed  at  govern- 
ment expense  across  the  Mississippi,  and  over  the  state  of  Missouri,  to 
the  western  boundary  of  the  latter,  where  five  millions  of  acres  of  rich 
and  fine  land  were  to  be  set  apart  for  them; — and  that  they  were  to  be 
supported  for  one  year  after  their  arrival  in  their  new  possession.  More- 
over, the  government  bound  itself  to  pay  them  over  and  above,  a  million 
of  dollars;  part  of  this  sum  being  set  aside  for  the  payment  of  the  debts 
of  the  tribe — part  for  a  permanent  school  fund — and  part  for  agricultural 
purposes,  presents,  and  so  forth. 


A  WINTER  VISIT,  1834 

Door  Prairie,  Indiana,  Dec.  29,  1833. 

jiEING  now  on  the  mail  route  between  Detroit  and  Chicago, 
,  I  am  traveling  very  comfortably  in  a  four-horse  wagon,  with 
the  gentlemen  mentioned  in  my  last.  I  found  my  horse's 
back  so  chafed  at  White  Pigeon,  that  it  was  unpleasant  to 
use  him  longer  under  the  saddle;  and  having  met  with  my  trunk  at 
Niles,  which  was  forwarded  from  Monroe  by  a  friend,  I  am  in  a  meas- 
ure compelled  to  adopt  what  is  certainly  the  most  agreeable  mode  of 
traveling  at  this  season  through  a  bleak  prairie  country. 

The  cold  winter  moon  was  still  riding  high  in  the  heavens  as  we 
ferried  over  the  St.  Joseph's  at  Niles  this  morning.  A  low  sided  scow 
was  the  means  of  conveyance;  and,  after  breaking  the  solid  ice  near  the 
shore  to  loose  from  our  moorings,  it  required  some  pains  to  shun  the 
detached  cakes  which  came  driving  down  the  center  of  the  dark  rolling 
river;  while,  near  the  opposite  shore,  they  had  become  so  wedged  and 
frozen  together,  that  it  required  considerable  exertion  to  break  a  way 
with  our  long  poles,  and  make  good  our  landing.  At  length,  ascending 
the  bank,  a  beautiful  plain,  with  a  clump  of  trees  here  and  there  upon  its 
surface,  opened  to  our  view.  The  establishment  of  the  Carey  Mission,1 
a  long,  low,  white  building,  could  be  distinguished  afar  off  faintly  in  the 
moonlight;  while  several  winter  lodges  of  the  Pottawattamies,  three  or 
four  hundred  of  which  tribe  inhabit  this  fine  district,  were  plainly  per- 
ceptible over  the  plain.  The  moon,  indeed,  shone  with  an  effulgence 
such  as  I  have  never  witnessed,  except  beneath  the  pearly  skies  of  the 
West.  Morning  came  at  last;  still,  but  excessively  cold;  our  horses' 
manes  and  our  own  clothes  being  covered  with  hoar-frost,  while  each 
blade  of  grass  that  shot  its  wilted  spear  above  the  snow  glistened  like 
a  diamond's  point  beneath  the  uprising  sun. 

About  ten  o'clock  we  reached  a  shantee  on  Terre  Coupe  prairie,  and 

'Carey's  Mission,  near  Niles,  Michigan,  the  school  already  referred  to  an  visited  by 
Major  Long,  was  established  by  Rev.  Isaac  McCoy.  It  was  conducted  for  several  years  as 
a  school  and  social  settlement,  in  the  effort  to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  Indians.  With 
their  removal  westward  the  mission  was  abandoned.  While  it  lasted  it  constituted  a  notable 
center  of  civilization  in  the  valley  of  the  St.  Joseph.  For  an  account  of  Rev.  McCoy's  self- 
sacrificing  labors  see  his  History  of  Baptist  Indian  Missions  (Washington,  1840). 


162  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

finding  no  one  at  home,  we  rummaged  the  establishment  to  find  the 
materials  for  a  breakfast,  which  we  cooked  ourselves,  and  left  payment 
upon  the  table.  Our  next  stage  carried  us  over  a  rolling  prairie  to 
Laporte.  The  undulating  surface  resembled  the  ground  swell  of  the 
sea;  and  nothing  could  be  more  dreary  at  this  season,  when  the  bright 
sky  of  the  morning  became  overcast,  than  moving  mile  after  mile  over 
this  frozen  lake — for  such  it  appeared — with  nothing  but  its  monotonous 
swell  to  catch  the  eye  wherever  its  glances  roamed.  It  was  afternoon 
when  we  reached  the  little  settlement  of  Laporte,  which  is  situated  ton 
a  pretty  lake,  in  a  prairie  of  the  same  name,  the  skirts  of  which  are 
beautifully  timbered.  There  was  just  light  enough  remaining, when, 
we  reached  our  present  stopping  place,  a  comfortable  log  cabin,  to  see 
the  opening  ahead  through  the  timber,  from  which  this  prairie  takes  its 
name.  It  forms  a  door  opening  upon  an  arm  of  the  Grand  Prairie,  which 
runs  through  the  states  of  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  extends  afterward,  if 
I  mistake  not,  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  I  am  now  in  the 
land  of  the  "Hooshiers,"  and  find  that  long-haired  race  much  more 
civilized  than  some  of  their  western  neighbors  are  willing  to  represent 
them.  The  term  "Hooshier,"  like  that  of  Yankee,  or  Buckeye,  first 
applied  contemptuously,  has  now  become  a  soubriquet,  that  bears 
nothing  invidious  with  it  to  the  ear  of  an  Indianian.  This  part  of  the 
state  is  as  yet  but  thinly  settled;  but  the  land  is  rapidly  coming  into  mar- 
ket, and  it  is  calculated  to  support  a  dense  population.  A  new  town  and 
harbor,  called  "Michigan  City,"  about  thirty  miles  off,  on  the  shore  of 
the  lake,  is  fast  coming  into  notice,  and  giving  a  spur  to  the  settlements 
in  these  parts.  The  country  is,  however,  still  wild  enough,  and  I  have 
a  wilder  yet  to  pass  before  reaching  Chicago. 

Chicago,  Jan.  i,  1834. 

We  left  the  prairie  in  the  east,  after  passing  through  "the  door," 
and  entered  a  forest,  where  the  enormous  black  walnut  and  sycamore 
trees  cumbered  the  soil  with  trunks  from  which  a  comfortable  dwelling 
might  be  excavated.  The  road  was  about  as  bad  as  could  be  imagined; 
and  after  riding  so  long  over  prairies  as  smooth  as  a  turnpike,  the  stumps 
and  fallen  trees  over  which  we  were  compelled  to  drive,  with  the  deep 
mudholes  into  which  our  horses  continually  plunged,  were  anything 
but  agreeable.  Still  the  stupendous  vegetation  of  the  forest  interested 
me  sufficiently  to  make  the  time,  otherwise  enlivened  by  good  company, 
pass  with  sufficient  fleetness,  though  we  made  hardly  more  than  two 
miles  an  hour  throughout  the  stage.  Atlast,afterpassingseveralunten- 
anted  sugar  camps  of  the  Indians,  we  reached  a  cabin,  prettily  situated 


A  WINTER  VISIT  163 

on  the  banks  of  a  lively  brook  winding  through  the  forest.  A  little 
Frenchman  waited  at  the  door  to  receive  our  horses,  while  a  couple  of 
half-intoxicated  Indians  followed  us  into  the  house,  in  the  hope  of 
getting  a'netos  (vulgarly,  "a  treat")  from  the  new  comers.  The  usual 
settlers'  dinner  of  fried  bacon,  venison  cutlets,  hot  cakes,  and  wild  honey, 
with  some  tolerable  tea  and  Indian  sugar — as  that  made  from  the  maple 
tree  is  called  at  the  West — was  soon  placed  before  us;  while  our  new 
driver,  the  frizzy  little  Frenchman  already  mentioned,  harnessed  a 
fresh  team,  and  hurried  us  into  the  wagon  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
poor  little  fellow  had  thirty  miles  to  drive  before  dark,  on  the  most 
difficult  part  of  the  route  of  the  line  between  Detroit  and  Chicago.  It 
was  easy  to  see  that  he  knew  nothing  of  driving,  the  moment  he  took  his 
reins  in  hand;  but  when  one  of  my  fellow  travelers  mentioned  that  little 
Victor  had  been  preferred  to  his  present  situation  of  trust  from  the 
indefatigable  manner  in  which,  before  the  stage  route  was  established 
last  season,  he  had  for  years  carried  the  mail  through  this  lonely  country 
— swimming  rivers  and  sleeping  in  the  woods  at  all  seasons — it  was 
impossible  to  dash  the  mixture  of  boyish  glee  and  official  pomposity 
with  which  he  entered  upon  his  duties,  by  suggesting  any  improvement 
as  to  the  mode  of  performing  them.  Away  then  we  went,  helter-skelter, 
through  the  woods — scrambled  through  a  brook,  and  galloping  over  an 
arm  of  the  prairie,  struck  again  into  the  forest.  A  fine  stream,  called 
the  Calaminc,  made  our  progress  here  more  gentle  for  a  moment.  But 
immediately  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  was  an  Indian  trading  post, 
and  our  little  French  Phaeton — who,  to  tell  the  truth,  had  been  repressing 
his  fire  for  the  last  half-hour,  while  winding  among  the  decayed  trees  and 
broken  branches  of  the  forest — could  contain  himself  no  longer.  He 
shook  the  reins  on  his  wheel-horses,  and  cracked  up  his  leaders,  with 
an  air  that  would  have  distinguished  him  on  the  Third  Avenue,  and 
been  envied  at  Cato's.  He  rises  in  his  seat  as  he  passes  the  trading 
house;  he  sweeps  by  like  a  whirlwind:  but  a  female  peeps  from  the 
portal,  and  it  is  all  over  with  poor  Victor. 

"Ah,  wherefore  did  he  turn  to  look? 
That  pause,  that  fatal  gaze  he  took, 
Hath  doomed " 

his  discomfiture.  The  infuriate  car  strikes  a  stump,  and  the  unlucky 
youth  shoots  off  at  a  tangent,  as  if  he  were  discharged  from  a  mortar. 
The  whole  operation  was  completed  with  such  velocity,  that  the  first 
intimation  I  had  of  what  was  going  forward,  was  on  finding  myself  two 
or  three  yards  from  the  shattered  wagon,  with  a  tall  Indian  in  a  wolfskin 


164  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

cap  standing  over  me.  My  two  fellow  passengers  were  dislodged  from 
their  seats  with  the  same  want  of  ceremony;  but  though  the  disjecta 
membra  of  our  company  were  thus  prodigally  scattered  about,  none  of 
us,  providentially,  received  injury.  Poor  Victor  was  terribly  crestfallen; 
and  had  he  not  unpacked  his  soul  by  calling  upon  all  the  saints  in  the 
calendar,  in  a  manner  more  familiar  than  respectful,  I  verily  believe 
that  his  tight  little  person  would  have  exploded  like  a  torpedo.  A  very 
respectable  looking  Indian  female,  the  wife,  probably,  of  the  French 
gentleman  who  owned  the  post,  came  out,  and  civilly  furnished  us  with 
basins  and  towels  to  clean  our  hands  and  faces,  which  were  sorely  be- 
spattered with  mud;  while  the  gray  old  Indian  before  mentioned  assisted 
in  collecting  our  scattered  baggage. 

The  spot  where  our  disaster  occurred  was  a  sequestered,  wild  look- 
ing place.  The  trading  establishment  consisted  of  six  or  eight  log 
cabins,  of  a  most  primitive  construction,  all  of  them  gray  with  age,  and 
so  grouped  on  the  bank  of  the  river  as  to  present  an  appearance  quite 
picturesque.  There  was  not  much  time,  however,  to  be  spent  in  observ- 
ing its  beauties.  The  sun  was  low,  and  we  had  twenty-five  miles  yet 
to  travel  that  night,  before  reaching  the  only  shanty  on  the  lake  shore. 
My  companions  were  compelled  to  mount  two  of  the  stage  horses, 
while  I  once  more  put  the  saddle  on  mine;  and  leaving  our  trunks  to 
follow  a  week  hence,  we  slung  our  saddle-bags  across  the  cruppers,  and 
pushed  directly  ahead. 

A  few  miles'  easy  riding  through  the  woods  brought  us  to  a  dangerous 
morass,  where  we  were  compelled  to  dismount  and  drive  our  horses  across, 
one  of  the  party  going  in  advance  to  catch  them  on  the  other  side.  A 
mile  or  two  of  pine  barrens  now  lay  between  us  and  the  shore,  and 
winding  rapidly  among  the  short  hills,  covered  with  this  stinted  growth, 
we  came  suddenly  upon  a  mound  of  white  sand  at  least  fifty  feet  high. 
Another  of  these  desolate  looking  eminences,  still  higher,  lay  beyond. 
We  topped  it;  and  there,  far  away  before  us,  lay  the  broad  bosom  of 
Lake  Michigan, — the  red  disk  of  the  sun  just  sinking  beneath  it,  and  the 
freshening  night  breeze  beginning  to  curl  its  limpid  waters  on  the  shore; 
and  now,  having  gained  their  verge,  whichever  way  we  turned,  there  was 
nothing  discernible  but  the  blackening  lake  on  one  side  and  these  conical 
hills  of  shifting  white  sand  on  the  other.  Some  of  them,  as  the  night 
advanced,  and  objects  were  only  discernible  by  the  bright  starlight, 
assumed  a  most  fantastic  appearance,  and  made  me  regret  that  I  could 
not  visit  the  "Sleeping  Bear,"  and  other  singularly  formed  mounds, 
which  many  miles  farther  to  the  north,  swell  from  two  to  three  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake.  The  deep  sand,  into  which  our  horses 


A  WINTER  VISIT  165 

sunk  to  the  fetlocks,  was  at  first  most  wearisome  to  the  poor  beasts;  and 
having  twenty  miles  yet  to  travel  entirely  on  the  lake  shore,  we  were 
compelled,  in  spite  of  the  danger  of  quicksands,  to  move  as  near  the 
water  as  possible.  But  though  the  day  had  been  mild,  the  night  rapidly 
became  so  cold  that,  before  we  had  proceeded  thus  many  miles,  the 
beach  twenty  yards  from  the  surf  was  nearly  as  hard  as  stone,  and  the 
finest  macadamized  road  in  the  world  could  not  compare  with  the  one 
over  which  we  now  galloped.  Nor  did  we  want  lamps  to  guide  us  on 
our  way.  Above,  the  stars  stood  out  like  points  of  light;  while  the 
resplendent  fires  of  the  aurora  borealis,  shooting  along  the  heavens  on 
our  right,  were  mocked  by  the  livid  glare  of  the  Kankakee  marshes, 
burning  behind  the  sand  hills  on  our  left.  The  lake  alone  looked  dark 
and  lowering;  though  even  its  gathering  waves  would  smile  when 
touched  with  light  as  they  broke  upon  the  shore.  The  intense  cold 
seemed  to  invigorate  our  horses;  and  dashing  the  fire  from  the  occasional 
pebbles,  they  clattered  along  the  frozen  beach  at  a  rate  that  brought  us 
rapidly  to  our  destination  for  the  night. 

It  was  a  rude  cabin,  built  of  stems  of  the  scrub  pine,  standing 
behind  a  sandy  swell  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the  shore.  My 
fingers  were  numb  with  cold;  and  seeing  a  rough-looking  fellow  moving 
from  the  door  towards  the  horses  of  my  companions,  I  requested  him  to 
take  mine  also;  but,  upon  his  politely  rejoining  that  "he  was  nobody's 
servant  but  his  own,"  I  could  only  wish  him  "a  more  civil  master,"  and 
proceeded  to  take  care  of  the  animal  myself.  A  brake  of  stunted  ever- 
greens near  by  supplied  the  place  of  a  stable;  and  passing  a  wisp  of  dry 
grass  over  the  reeking  limbs  of  my  four-footed  friend,  I  flung  my  cloak 
over  his  back,  and  tethered  him  for  the  night.  The  keeper  of  the  rustic 
hostelry  came  up  just  as  I  had  got  through  with  this  necessary  task, 
and  explaining  to  me  that  the  insolent  lounger  was  a  discharged  mail 
carrier,  returned  with  me  to  the  house  for  a  measure  of  corn;  while  I, 
guided  by  the  light  flickering  through  the  crevices  of  his  frail  dwelling, 
rejoined  my  companions,  nestled  with  two  other  half-frozen  travelers 
around  the  grateful  fire  within.  The  strangers  were  both  western  men; 
one,  I  believe,  a  farmer,  for  some  time  settled  in  Illinois,  and  the  other 
an  Indian  trader  of  long  standing  in  Chicago.  Warlike  incidents  in 
border  story,  and  the  pacific  dealings  between  the  whites  and  Indians, 
.formed  the  chief  subjects  of  conversation,  which  soon  became  general, 
and  was  prolonged  to  a  late  hour;  finally  the  late  treaty  held  at  Chicago — 
at  which,  as  you  have  probably  seen  in  the  newspapers,  several  thousand 
Indians  were  present — was  discussed,  and  the  anecdotes  that  were  told 
of  meanness,  rapacity,  and  highway  robbery  (in  cheating,  stealing,  and 


\ 

\ 


1 66  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

forcibly  taking  away)  from  the  Indians,  exasperated  me  so  that  I  ex- 
pressed my  indignation  and  disgust  in  unmeasured  terms.  The  worthy 
trader,  who  was  a  middle-aged  man,  of  affable,  quiet,  good  manners, 
seemed  to  sympathize  with  me  throughout;  but  the  whole  current  of 
my  feelings  was  totally  changed,  when,  upon  my  observing  shortly 
afterward  to  another  gentleman,  that  "I  should  have  liked  to  have  been 
at  Chicago  a  year  ago,"  my  warm  coadjutor  ejaculated  from  under  the 
bed-clothes,  where  he  had  in  the  mean  time  bestowed  himself,  "Ah,  sir, 
if  you  had,  the  way  in  which  you'd  have  hook'd  an  Indian  blanket  by 
this  time,  would  be  curious."  The  chivalric  knight  of  La  Mancha 
himself  could  not  have  sustained  heroics  under  such  a  home  thrust, 
but  must  have  burst  into  the  hearty  laugh  in  which  I  was  joined  by  all 
present.  The  hour  of  sleep  for  all  at  last  arrived,  and  a  couple  of  wooden 
bunks,  swung  from  the  roof,  falling  to  the  lot  of  those  who  had  come  in 
first,  I  wrapped  myself  in  a  buffalo  skin,  and  placing  my  saddle  under 
my  head  for  a  pillow,  soon  "slept  like  a  king";  a  term  which,  if 

"Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown" 

be  true  doctrine,  is,  probably,  quasi  lucus,  &c. 

Our  transient  acquaintances  parted  from  us  in  a  most  friendly 
manner  in  the  morning;  and  after  waiting  in  vain  till  near  noon,  to  see 
if  by  any  chance  little  Victor  might  not  be  able  to  forward  our  trunks  to 
this  point,  we  mounted  once  more,  and  pushed  ahead  with  all  speed,  to 
accomplish  the  remaining  twenty  or  thirty  miles  between  the  shanty 
and  Chicago.  Our  route  was  still  along  the  shore;  and  after  passing 
round  the  end  of  the  lake  and  taking  a  northwardly  direction,  the  way 
in  which  the  icy  blast  would  come  down  the  bleak  shore  of  the  lake 
"was  a  caution."  We  galloped  at  full  speed,  every  man  choosing  his 
own  route  along  the  beach,  our  horses'  hoofs  ringing  the  while  as  if  it 
were  a  pavement  of  flint  beneath  them.  The  rough  ice  piled  up  on  the 
coast  prevented  us  from  watering  our  beasts;  and  we  did  not  draw  a  rein 
till  the  rushing  current  of  the  Calaminc,  which  debouches  into  Lake 
Michigan  some  ten  miles  from  Chicago,  stayed  our  course.  A  cabin  on 
the  bank  gave  us  a  moment's  opportunity  to  warm,  and  then,  being 
ferried  over  the  wintry  stream,  we  started  with  fresh  vigor,  and  crossing 
about  a  mile  of  prairie  in  the  neighborhood  of  Chicago,  reached  here  in 
time  for  an  early  dinner.  Our  horses  this  morning  seem  none  the  worse 
for  this  furious  riding;  their  escape  from  ill  consequences  being  readily 
attributable  to  the  excellence  of  the  road,  and  the  extreme  coldness  of 
the  weather  while  traveling  it.  For  my  own  part,  I  never  felt  better 
than  after  this  violent  burst  of  exercise. 


A  WINTER  VISIT  167 

We  had  not  been  here  an  hour  before  an  invitation  to  a  public  ball 
was  courteously  sent  to  us  by  the  managers;  and  though  my  soiled  and 
travel  worn  riding-dress  was  not  exactly  the  thing  to  present  one's  self 
in  before  ladies  of  an  evening,  yet,  in  my  earnestness  to  see  life  on  the 
frontier,  I  easily  allowed  all  objections  to  be  overruled  by  my  com- 
panions, and  we  accordingly  drove  to  the  house  in  which  the  ball  was 
given.  It  was  a  frame  building,  one  of  the  few  as  yet  to  be  found  in 
Chicago;  which,  although  one  of  the  most  ancient  French  trading  posts 
on  the  Lakes,  can  only  date  its  growth  as  a  village  since  the  Indian  war, 
eighteen  months  since.  When  I  add  that  the  population  has  quintupled 
last  summer,  and  that  but  few  mechanics  have  come  in  with  the  pro- 
digious increase  of  residents,  you  can  readily  imagine  that  the  influx 
of  strangers  far  exceeds  the  means  of  accommodation;  while  scarcely  a 
house  in  the  place,  however  comfortable  looking  outside,  contains  more 
than  two  or  three  finished  rooms.  In  the  present  instance,  we  were 
ushered  into  a  tolerably  sized  dancing  room,  occupying  the  second  story 
of  the  house,  and  having  its  unfinished  walls  so  ingeniously  covered  with 
pine  branches  and  flags  borrowed  from  the  garrison,  that,  with  the 
whitewash  ceiling  above,  it  presented  a  very  complete  and  quite  pretty 
appearance.  It  was  not  so  warm,  however,  that  the  fires  of  cheerful 
hickory,  which  roared  at  either  end,  could  have  been  readily  dispensed 
with.  An  orchestra  of  unplaned  boards  was  raised  against  the  wall 
in  the  center  of  the  room;  the  band  consisting  of  a  dandy  negro  with 
his  violin,  a  fine  military  looking  bass  drummer  from  the  fort,  and  a 
volunteer  citizen,  who  alternately  played  an  accompaniment  upon  the 
flute  and  triangle.  Blackee,  who  flourished  about  with  a  great  many 
airs  and  graces,  was  decidedly  the  king  of  the  company;  and  it  was 
amusing,  while  his  head  followed  the  direction  of  his  fiddle-bow  with 
pertinacious  fidelity,  to  see  the  Captain  Manuel-like  precision  with 
which  the  soldier  dressed  to  the  front  on  one  side,  and  the  nonchalant 
air  of  importance  which  the  cit  attempted  to  preserve  on  the  other. 

As  for  the  company,  it  was  such  a  complete  medley  of  all  ranks, 
ages,  professions,  trades,  and  occupations,  brought  together  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  now  for  the  first  time  brought  together,  that  it 
was  amazing  to  witness  the  decorum  with  which  they  commingled  on 
this  festive  occasion.  The  managers  (among  whom  were  some  officers 
of  the  garrison)  must  certainly  be  au  fait  at  dressing  a  lobster  and 
mixing  regent's  punch,  in  order  to  have  produced  a  harmonious  compound 
from  such  a  collection  of  contrarieties.  The  gayest  figure  that  was  ever 
called  by  quadrille-playing  Benoit  never  afforded  me  half  the  amusement 
that  did  these  Chicago  cotillons.  Here  you  might  see  a  veteran  officer 


168  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

in  full  uniform  balancing  to  a  tradesman's  daughter  still  in  her  short 
frock  and  trowsers,  while  there  the  golden  aiguillette  of  a  handsome 
surgeon  flapped  in  unison  with  the  glass  beads  upon  a  scrawny  neck 
of  fifty.  In  one  quarter,  the  high-placed  buttons  of  a  linsey-woolsey 
coat  would  be  dos  a  dot  to  the  elegantly  turned  shoulders  of  a  delicate 
looking  southern  girl;  and  in  another,  a  pair  of  Cinderella-like  slippers 
would  chassez  cross  with  a  brace  of  thick-soled  broghans,  in  making  which, 
one  of  the  lost  feet  of  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes  may  have  served  for  a 
last.  Those  raven  locks,  dressed  a  la  Maddonnet  over  eyes  of  jet,  and 
touching  a  cheek  where  blood  of  a  deeper  hue  mingles  with  the  less 
glowing  current  from  European  veins,  tell  of  a  lineage  drawn  from  the 
original  owners  of  the  soil;  while  these  golden  tresses,  floating  away 
from  eyes  of  heaven's  own  color  over  a  neck  of  alabaster,  recall  the 
Gothic  ancestry  of  some  of  "England's  born."  How  piquantly  do 
these  trim  and  beaded  leggins  peep  from  under  that  simple  dress  of 
black,  as  its  tall  nutbrown  wearer  moves,  as  if  unconsciously,  through  the 
graceful  mazes  of  the  dance.  How  divertingly  do  those  inflated  gigots, 
rising  like  windsails  from  that  little  Dutch-built  hull,  jar  against  those 
tall  plumes  which  impend  over  them  like  a  commodore's  pennant  on 
the  same  vessel. 

But  what  boots  all  these  incongruities,  when  a  spirit  of  festive  good 
humor  animates  every  one  present?  "It  takes  all  kinds  of  people  to 
make  a  world,"  (as  I  hear  it  judiciously  observed  this  side  of  the  moun- 
tains,) and  why  should  not  all  these  kinds  of  people  be  represented  as 
well  in  a  ballroom  as  in  a  legislature?  At  all  events,  if  I  wished  to  give 
an  intelligent  foreigner  a  favorable  opinion  of  the  manners  and  deport- 
ment of  my  countrymen  in  the  aggregate,  I  should  not  wish  a  better 
opportunity,  after  explaining  to  him  the  materials  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed, and  the  mode  in  which  they  were  brought  together  from  every 
section  of  the  Union,  than  was  afforded  by  this  very  ball.  "This  is 
a  scene  of  enchantment  to  me,  sir,"  observed  an  officer  to  me,  recently 
exchanged  to  this  post,  and  formerly  stationed  here.  "There  were 
but  a  few  traders  around  the  fort  when  I  last  visited  Chicago;  and  now 
I  can't  contrive  where  the  devil  all  these  well  dressed  people  have  come 
from!"  I  referred  him  to  an  old  resident  of  three  months'  standing, 
to  whom  I  had  just  been  introduced,  but  he  could  throw  no  light  upon 
the  subject;  and  we  left  the  matter  of  peopling  Chicago  in  the  same  place 
where  philosophers  have  put  the  question  of  the  original  peopling  of 
the  continent.  I  made  several  new  acquaintances  at  this  New  Year's 
ball,  and  particularly  with  the  officers  of  the  garrison,  from  whose  society 
I  promise  myself  much  pleasure  during  my  stay. 


A  WINTER  VISIT  169 

The  geographical  position  of  Chicago  is  so  important,  that  I  must 
give  you  a  more  minute  description  of  the  place  in  my  next.  Would 
that  in  folding  this  I  could  enclose  you  half  the  warm  wishes  for  your 
welfare  which  the  season  awakens  in  my  bosom! 

Chicago,  Illinois,  Jan.  10,  1834. 

I  have  been  here  more  than  ten  days,  without  fulfilling  the  promise 
given  in  my  last.  It  has  been  so  cold,  indeed,  as  almost  to  render  writing 
impracticable  in  a  place  so  comfortless.  The  houses  were  built  with 
such  rapidity,  during  the  summer,  as  to  be  mere  shells;  and  the  thermom- 
eter having  ranged  as  low  as  28  below  zero  during  several  days,  it  has 
been  almost  impossible,  notwithstanding  the  large  fires  kept  up  by  an 
attentive  landlord,  to  prevent  the  ink  from  freezing  while  using  it,  and 
one's  fingers  become  so  numb  in  a  very  few  moments  when  thus  exercised, 
that,  after  vainly  trying  to  write  in  gloves,  I  have  thrown  by  my  pen, 
and  joined  the  group,  composed  of  all  the  household,  around  the  bar- 
room fire.  This  room,  which  is  an  old  log  cabin  aside  of  the  main  house, 
is  one  of  the  most  comfortable  places  in  town,  and  is,  of  course,  much 
frequented;  business  being,  so  far  as  one  can  judge  from  the  concourse 
that  throng  it,  nearly  at  a  standstill.  Several  persons  have  been  severely 
frost  bitten  in  passing  from  door  to  door;  and  not  to  mention  the  quantity 
of  poultry  and  pigs  that  have  been  frozen,  an  ox,  I  am  told,  has  perished 
from  cold  in  the  streets  at  noonday.  An  occasional  Indian,  wrapped  in 
his  blanket,  and  dodging  about  from  store  to  store  after  a  dram  of 
whiskey;  or  a  muffled-up  Frenchman,  driving  furiously  in  his  cariole 
on  the  river,  are  almost  the  only  human  beings  abroad;  while  the  wolves, 
driven  in  by  the  deep  snows  which  preceded  this  severe  weather,  troop 
through  the  town  after  nightfall,  and  may  be  heard  howling  continually 
in  the  midst  of  it. 

The  situation  of  Chicago,  on  the  edge  of  the  Grand  Prairie,  with 
the  whole  expanse  of  Lake  Michigan  before  it,  gives  the  freezing  winds 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  prodigious  effect,  and  renders  a  degree  of 
temperature,  which  in  sheltered  situations  is  but  little  felt,  almost 
painful  here. 

"The  bleak  winds 

Do  sorely  ruffle;  for  many  a  mile  about, 

There's  scarce  a  bush." 

The  town  lies  upon  a  dead  level,  along  the  banks  of  a  narrow  forked 
river,  and  is  spread  over  a  wide  extent  of  surface  to  the  shores  of  the 
lake,  while  vessels  of  considerable  draught  of  water  can,  by  means  of  the 


170  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

river,  unload  in  the  center  of  the  place.  I  believe  I  have  already  men- 
tioned that  four-fifths  of  the  population  have  come  in  since  last  spring; 
the  erection  of  new  buildings  during  the  summer  has  been  in  the  same 
proportion;  and  although  a  place  of  such  mushroom  growth  can,  of  course, 
boast  of  but  little  solid  improvement  in  the  way  of  building,  yet  contracts 
have  been  made  for  the  ensuing  season  which  must  soon  give  Chicago 
much  of  that  metropolitan  appearance  it  is  destined  so  promptly  to 
assume.  As  a  place  of  business,  its  situation  at  the  central  head  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  will  make  it  the  New  Orleans  of  the  north;  and  its 
easy  and  close  intercourse  with  the  most  flourishing  eastern  cities  will 
give  it  the  advantage,  as  its  capital  increases,  of  all  their  improvements 
in  the  mode  of  living. 

There  is  one  improvement  to  be  made,  however,  in  this  section  of 
the  country,  which  will  greatly  influence  the  permanent  value  of  property 
in  Chicago.  I  allude  to  a  canal  from  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  to 
the  head  of  the  steam  navigation  on  the  Illinois,  the  route  of  which  has 
been  long  since  surveyed.  The  distance  to  be  overcome  is  something 
like  ninety  miles;  and  when  you  remember  that  the  head  waters  of  the 
Illinois  rise  within  eleven  miles  of  Chicago  River,  and  that  a  level  plain 
of  not  more  than  eight  feet  elevation  above  the  latter  is  the  only  inter- 
vening obstacle,  you  can  conceive  how  easy  it  would  be  to  drain  Lake 
Michigan  into  the  Mississippi  by  this  route;  boats  of  eighteen  tons 
having  actually  passed  over  the  intervening  prairie  at  high  water.  Lake 
Michigan,  which  is  several  feet  above  Lake  Erie,  would  afford  such  a 
never-failing  body  of  water,  that  it  would  keep  steamboats  afloat  on  the 
route  in  the  driest  season.  St.  Louis  would  then  be  brought  compara- 
tively near  to  New  York:  while  two-thirds  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
would  be  supplied  by  this  route  immediately  from  the  markets  of  the 
latter.  This  canal  is  the  only  remaining  link  wanting  to  complete  the 
most  stupendous  chain  of  inland  communication  in  the  world.  I  had 
a  long  conversation  this  morning  on  the  subject  with  Major  H.,  the 
United  States  engineer,  who  is  engaged  in  superintending  the  construc- 
tion of  a  pier  at  this  place.  He  was  polite  enough  to  sketch  the  main 
features  of  the  route  with  his  pencil,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  its 
feasibility  very  apparent.  The  canal  would  pass  for  the  whole  distance 
through  a  prairie  country,  where  every  production  of  the  field  and  the 
garden  can  be  raised  with  scarcely  any  toil,  and  where  the  most  prolific 
soil  in  the  world  requires  no  other  preparation  for  planting  than  passing 
the  plough  over  its  bosom.  The  most  effectual  mode  of  making  this 
canal  would  be  to  give  the  lands  along  its  banks  to  an  incorporated 


A  WINTER  VISIT  171 

company,  who  should  construct  the  work  within  a  certain  time.    The 
matter  is  now  merely  agitated  at  elections  as  a  political  handle. 

January    13. 

I  had  got  thus  far  in  a  letter  to  you,  when  several  officers  of  the 
garrison,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  hospitable  attention  and  many 
agreeable  hours,  stopped  opposite  the  door  with  a  train  of  carioles,  in 
one  of  which  I  was  offered  a  seat  to  witness  a  pacing  match  on  the  ice. 
There  were  several  ladies  with  gentlemen  in  attendance  already  on  the 
river,  all  muffled  up,  after  the  Canadian  fashion,  in  fur  robes,  whose 
gay  trimmings  presented  a  rich  as  well  as  most  comfortable  appearance. 
The  horses  from  which  the  most  sport  was  expected,  were  a  black  pony 
bred  in  the  country,  and  a  tall  roan  nag  from  the  lower  Mississippi. 
They  paced  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in  something  less  than  three  minutes. 
I  rode  behind  the  winning  horse  one  heat,  and  the  velocity  with  which 
he  made  our  cariole  fly  over  the  smooth  ice  was  almost  startling.  The 
southern  horse  won  the  race;  but  I  was  told  that,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  the  nags  from  his  part  of  the  country,  could  not  stand  against  a 
French  pony. 

In  the  middle  of  the  chase,  a  wolf,  probably  roused  by  the  sleigh 
bells  from  his  lair  on  the  river's  bank,  trotted  along  the  prairie  above, 
within  gunshot,  calmly  surveying  the  sport.  The  uninvited  presence 
of  this  long-haired  amateur  at  once  suggested  a  hunt  for  the  morrow: 
and  arrangements  were  accordingly  made  by  several  gentlemen  present 
for  that  most  exciting  of  sports,  a  wolf-chase  on  horseback. 

It  was  a  fine  bracing  morning,  with  the  sun  shining  cheerily  through 
the  still  cold  atmosphere  far  over  the  snow-covered  prairie,  when  the 
party  assembled  in  front  of  my  lodgings  to  the  number  of  ten  horsemen, 
all  well  mounted  and  eager  for  the  sport.2  The  hunt  was  divided  into 
two  squads;  one  of  which  was  to  follow  the  windings  of  the  river  on  the 
ice,  and  the  other  to  make  a  circuit  on  the  prairie.  A  pack  of  dogs, 
consisting  of  a  grayhound  or  two  for  running  the  game,  with  several  of 
a  heavier  and  fiercer  breed  for  pulling  it  down,  accompanied  each  party. 
I  was  attached  to  that  which  took  the  river;  and  it  was  a  beautiful  sight, 
as  our  friends  trotted  off  in  the  prairie,  to  see  their  different  colored 
capotes  and  gayly  equipped  horses  contrasted  with  the  bright  carpet 
of  spotless  white  over  which  they  rode;  while  the  sound  of  their  voices 

2  An  anonymous  writer  (probably  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson)  in  Appleton's  Journal  of 
Literature,  Science  and  Art,  October  9,  1869,  describes  the  activities  of  a  wolf-hunting  club 
which  existed  at  Chicago  at  this  time,  and  names  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  hunting 
p:irty  which  entertained  Hoffman. 


172  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

was  soon  lost  to  our  ears,  as  we  descended  to  the  channel  of  the  river, 
and  their  lessening  figures  were  hid  from  our  view  by  the  low  brush 
which  in  some  places  skirted  its  banks.  The  brisk  trot  into  which  we 
now  broke,  brought  us  rapidly  to  the  place  of  meeting,  where  to  the 
disappointment  of  each  party,  it  was  found  that  neither  had  started 
any  game.  We  now  spread  ourselves  into  a  broad  line,  about  gunshot 
apart  from  each  other,  and  began  thus  advancing  into  the  prairie.  We 
had  not  swept  it  thus  more  than  a  mile,  when  a  shout  on  the  extreme 
left,  with  the  accelerated  pace  of  the  furthermost  riders  in  that  direction, 
told  that  they  had  roused  a  wolf.  "The  devil  take  the  hindermost," 
was  now  the  motto  of  the  company,  and  each  one  spurred  for  the  spot 
with  all  eagerness.  Unhappily,  however,  the  land  along  the  bank  of 
the  river,  on  the  right,  was  so  broken  by  ravines  choked  up  with  snow, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  us,  who  were  half  a  mile  from  the  game  when 
started,  to  come  up  at  all  with  the  two  or  three  horsemen  who  led  the 
pursuit.  Our  horses  sunk  to  their  cruppers  in  the  deep  snowdrift. 
Some  were  repeatedly  thrown;  and  one  or  two  breaking  their  saddle 
girths,  from  the  desperate  struggles  their  horses  made  in  the  snowbanks, 
were  compelled  to  abandon  the  chase  entirely.  My  stout  roan  carried 
me  bravely  through  all;  but  when  I  emerged  from  the  last  ravine  on  the 
open  plain,  the  horsemen  who  led  the  chase,  from  some  inequality  in  the 
surface  of  the  prairie,  were  not  visible;  while  a  fleet  rider,  whose  tall 
figure  and  Indian  headdress  had  hitherto  guided  me,  had  been  just 
unhorsed,  and,  abandoning  the  game  afoot,  was  now  wheeling  off, 
apparently  with  some  other  object  in  view.  Following  on  the  same 
course,  we  soon  encountered  a  couple  of  officers  in  a  train,  who  were 
just  coming  from  a  mission  of  charity  in  visiting  the  half-starved  orphans 
of  a  poor  woman  who  was  frozen  to  death  on  the  prairie,  a  day  or  two 
since — the  wolves  having  already  picked  her  bones  before  her  fate 
became  known.  One  by  one,  the  whole  squad  to  which  I  belonged, 
collected  around  to  make  inquiries  about  the  poor  children;  and  then, 
as  our  horses  generally  were  yet  in  good  condition,  we  scattered  once 
more  over  the  prairie,  with  the  hope  of  rousing  more  game. 

Not  ten  minutes  elapsed  before  a  wolf,  breaking  from  the  dead 
weeds  which,  shooting  eight  or  ten  feet  above  the  level  of  the  snow, 
indicated  the  banks  of  a  deep  ravine,  dashed  off  into  the  prairie,  pursued 
by  a  horseman  on  the  right.  He  made  instantly  for  the  deep  banks  of 
the  river,  one  of  whose  windings  was  within  a  few  hundred  yards.  He 
had  a  bold  rider  behind  him,  however,  in  the  gentleman  who  led  the 
chase  (a  young  educated  half-blood,  well  connected  at  Chicago).  The 
precipitous  bank  of  the  stream  did  not  retard  this  hunter  for  a  moment; 


A  WINTER  VISIT  173 

but,  dashing  down  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  he  was  hard  upon  the  wolf 
before  he  could  ascend  the  elevation  on  the  opposite  side.  Our  whole 
squad  reached  the  open  prairie  beyond  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  chase. 
Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful.  There  was  not  an  obstacle  to  oppose 
us  in  the  open  plain;  and  all  our  dogs  having  followed  the  other  division 
of  our  company,  nothing  remained  but  to  drive  the  wolf  to  death  on  horse- 
back. Away,  then  we  went,  shouting  on  his  track;  the  hotly-pursued 
beast  gaining  on  us  whenever  the  crust  of  a  deep  snowdrift  gave  him 
an  advantage  over  the  horse,  and  we  in  our  turn  nearly  riding  over  him 
when  we  came  to  ground  comparatively  bare.  The  sagacious  animal 
became  at  last  aware  that  his  course  would  soon  be  up  at  this  rate, 
and  turning  rapidly  in  his  tracks  as  we  were  scattered  over  the  prairie, 
he  passed  through  our  line,  and  made  at  once  again  for  the  river.  He 
was  cut  off  and  turned  in  a  moment  by  a  horseman  on  the  left,  who 
happened  to  be  a  little  behind  the  rest;  and  now  came  the  keenest  part 
of  the  sport.  The  wolf  would  double  every  moment  upon  his  tracks, 
while  each  horseman  in  succession  would  make  a  dash  at  and  turn  him 
in  a  different  direction.  Twice  I  was  near  enough  to  strike  him  with  a 
horsewhip,  and  once  he  was  under  my  horse's  feet;  while  so  furiously 
did  each  rider  push  at  him,  that  as  we  brushed  by  each  other  and  con- 
fronted horse  to  horse,  while  riding  from  different  quarters  at  full  speed, 
it  required  one  somewhat  used  "to  turn  and  wind  a  fiery  Pegasus"  to 
maintain  his  seat  at  all.  The  rascal,  who  would  now  and  then  look 
over  his  shoulder  and  gnash  his  teeth,  seemed  at  last  as  if  he  was  about 
to  succumb;  when,  after  running  a  few  hundred  yards  in  an  oblique 
direction  from  the  river,  he  suddenly  veered  his  course,  at  a  moment 
when  every  one  thought  his  strength  was  spent,  and  gaining  the  bank 
before  he  could  be  turned,  he  disappeared  in  an  instant.  The  rider 
nearest  to  his  heels  became  entangled  in  the  low  boughs  of  a  tree  which 
grew  near  the  spot;  while  I,  who  followed  next,  was  thrown  out  sufficiently 
to  gi  ve  the  wolf  time  to  get  out  of  view  by  my  horse  bolting  as  he  reached 
the  sudden  edge  of  the  river.  The  rest  of  the  hunt  were  consequently 
at  fault  when  they  came  up  to  us;  and  after  trying  in  vain  to  track  our 
lost  quarry  over  the  smooth  ice  for  half  an  hour,  we  were  most  vexa- 
tiously  compelled  to  abandon  the  pursuit  as  fruitless,  and  proceed  to 
join  the  other  squad  of  our  party,  who  could  now  be  seen  at  some  dis- 
tance, apparently  making  for  the  same  point  to  which  our  route  was 
leading.  A  thicket  on  the  bank  soon  hid  them  from  our  view;  and 
we  then  moved  more  leisurely  along  in  order  to  breathe  our  horses. 
But  suddenly  the  distant  cry  of  hounds  gave  intimation  that  new  game 
was  afoot;  and,  on  topping  a  slight  elevation,  we  discerned  a  party  of 


174  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

horsemen  far  away,  with  three  wolves  running  apparently  about  a  pistol 
shot  ahead  of  them.  Our  squad  was  dispersed  in  an  instant.  Some 
struck  off  at  once  in  the  prairie,  in  a  direct  line  for  their  object,  and 
were  soon  brought  to  in  the  deep  snow  banks;  others,  taking  a  more 
circuitous  course,  proceeded  to  double  the  ravines  that  were  filled  with 
the  treacherous  drift;  and  some,  more  fortunate,  took  to  the  frozen  river, 
where  the  clatter  of  their  hoofs  on  the  hard  ice  seemed  to  inspirit  their 
horses  anew.  I  chanced  to  be  one  of  the  latter,  and  was  moreover 
the  first  to  catch  sight  again  of  one  of  the  animals  we  were  pursuing, 
and  find  myself  nearer  to  him  than  any  of  our  party.  The  wolf  was  of 
the  large  gray  kind.  But  one  of  the  hunters  had  been  able  to  keep  up 
with  him,  and  him  I  could  distinguish  far  off  in  the  prairie,  turning  and 
winding  his  foaming  horse  as  the  wolf  would  double  every  moment  upon 
his  tracks,  while  half  a  dozen  dogs,  embarrassed  in  the  deep  snow,  were 
slowly  coming  up.  I  reached  the  spot  just  as  the  wolf  first  stood  at 
bay.  His  bristling  back,  glaring  eyes,  and  ferociously  distended  jaws, 
might  well  have  appalled  the  dogs  for  a  moment;  when  an  impetuous 
greyhound,  who  had  been  for  some  time  pushing  through  the  snow- 
drifts with  unabated  industry,  having  now  attained  a  comparatively 
clear  spot  of  ground,  leaped  with  such  force  against  the  flank  of  the  wolf 
as  to  upset  him  in  an  instant,  while  the  greyhound  shot  far  ahead  of  the 
quarry.  He  recovered  himself  instantly,  but  not  before  a  fierce  powerful 
hound,  whose  thick  neck  and  broad  muzzle  indicated  a  cross  of  the 
bulldog  blood  with  that  of  a  nobler  strain,  had  struck  him  first  upon  the 
haunch,  and  was  now  trying  to  grapple  him  by  the  throat.  Down  again 
he  went,  rolling  over  and  over  in  the  deep  snow,  while  the  clicking  of 
his  jaws,  as  he  snapped  eagerly  at  each  member  of  the  pack  that  by  turns 
beset  him,  was  distinctly  audible.  The  powerful  dog,  already  mentioned, 
secured  him  at  last  by  fixing  his  muzzle  deeply  in  the  breast  of  the  pros- 
trate animal.  This,  however,  did  not  prevent  the  wolf  giving  some  fear- 
ful wounds  to  the  other  dogs  which  beset  him;  and,  accordingly,  with 
the  permission  of  the  gentleman  who  had  led  the  chase,  I  threw  myself 
from  my  horse,  and  gave  the  game  the  coup  de  grace  with  a  dirk  knife 
which  I  had  about  me.  Two  of  our  party  soon  after  joined  us,  each 
with  a  prairie  wolf  hanging  to  his  saddle-bow;  and  the  others  gradually 
collecting,  we  returned  to  Chicago,  contented  at  last  with  the  result  of 
our  morning's  sport. 

It  was  with  no  enviable  feelings,  I  assure  you,  that  on  making  my 
arrangements  an  hour  ago  to  start  in  the  new  line  of  stage  coaches  which 
has  just  been  established  between  this  point  and  St.  Louis,  I  found  myself 
compelled  to  part  with  the  friend  to  whom  I  was  chiefly  indebted  for 


A  WINTER  VISIT  175 

my  share  in  the  glorious  sports  I  have  just  attempted  to  describe  to  you — 
the  four-footed  companion  of  my  last  six  weeks'  rambles.  I  remember 
being  once  struck  with  the  remark  of  an  ingenious  writer  in  the  Library 
of  Useful  Knowledge,  when,  in  discussing  the  real  and  relative  value  of 
horses,  he  observes  that  the  commonest  hackney,  if  in  every  respect 
suiting  his  owner,  is  priceless  to  the  possessor.  A  favorite  horse,  in 
fact,  though  his  estimation  may  only  depend  upon  the  whim  of  his 
master,  is  one  of  this  world's  goods  which  can  never  be  thoroughly 
replaced.  It  is  not,  however,  when  the  charge  of  such  property  falls 
exclusively  to  grooms  and  others  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  another 
that  you  feel  its  value:  the  stall-fed  palfrey,  which  you  drive  along  a 
turnpike  from  one  hotel  to  another,  and  abandon  when  he  falls  sick  for 
some  other  means  of  conveyance,  with  as  little  concern  as  you  would 
exchange  your  trunk  for  a  portmanteau,  or  vice  versa,  has  but  little  hold 
on  one's  feelings  in  comparison  with  the  hearty  animal  with  which  you 
wander  away,  where  he  meets  with  no  care  but  such  as  you  bestow  upon 
him;  and  when  you  in  turn  become  wholly  dependent  upon  him  for 
overcoming  distances  and  difficulties  between  places  so  remote  from 
each  other,  that  not  only  your  comfort,  but  sometimes  your  personal 
safety,  depend  upon  accomplishing  the  intervals  within  certain  periods; 
when  you  push  ahead  through  falling  sleet,  ford  rivers,  plunge  through 
snowbanks,  or  cross  morasses,  where  the  matted  grass,  spreading  its 
carpet  over  the  shaking  slough,  embarrasses  and  wearies  the  step  of 
your  sagacious  quadruped,  while  it  prevents  his  feet  from  sinking  into 
the  dangerous  quagmire  beneath.  Three  weeks  of  such  intercourse 
between  man  and  brute  are  like  three  rainy  days  when  one  is  shut  up 
in  a  country  house  with  strangers:  they  cherish  a  fellowship  more  cordial 
than  years  of  ordinary  intercourse  could  engender.  It  is  no  little  con- 
solation to  me  that  I  leave  my  Bucephalus  in  excellent  hands;  nor  does 
this  necessary  separation  so  engross  my  sympathies  that  I  have  none 
to  spare  for  other  partings.  Upon  these,  however,  I  shall  not  dilate 
here;  though  you  must  not  be  surprised  to  find  me  returning  more  than 
once  hereafter  to  characters,  scenes,  and  incidents  at  Chicago,  which 
I  have  hitherto  left  untouched. 


HARRIET  MARTINEAU'S  VISIT,  1836 

[HICAGO  looks  raw  and  bare,  standing  on  the  high  prairie 
above  the  lake  shore.  The  houses  appeared  all  insignificant, 
and  run  up  in  various  directions,  without  -any  principle  at 
all.  A  friend  of  mine  who  resides  there  had  told  me  that  we 
should  find  the  inns  intolerable,  at  the  period  of  the  great  land  sales,  which 
bring  a  concourse  of  speculators  to  the  place.  It  was  even  so.  The 
very  sight  of  them  was  intolerable;  and  there  was  not  room  for  our  party 
among  them  all.  I  do  not  know  what  we  should  have  done,  (unless  to 
betake  ourselves  to  the  vessels  in  the  harbor,)  if  our  coming  had  not 
been  foreknown,  and  most  kindly  provided  for.  We  were  divided 
between  three  families,  who  had  the  art  of  removing  all  our  scruples 
about  intruding  on  perfect  strangers.  None  of  us  will  lose  the  lively 
and  pleasant  associations  with  the  place,  which  were  caused  by  the 
hospitalities  of  its  inhabitants. 

I  never  saw  a  busier  place  than  Chicago  was  at  the  time  of  our 
arrival.  The  streets  were  crowded  with  land  speculators,  hurrying  from 
one  sale  to  another.  A  negro,  dressed  up  in  scarlet,  bearing  a  scarlet 
flag,  and  riding  a  white  horse  with  housings  of  scarlet,  announced  the 
times  of  sale.  At  every  street  corner  where  he  stopped,  the  crowd 
flocked  round  him;  and  it  seemed  as  if  some  prevalent  mania  infected 
the  whole  people.  The  rage  for  speculation  might  fairly  be  so  regarded. 
As  the  gentlemen  of  our  party  walked  the  streets,  storekeepers  hailed 
them  from  their  doors,  with  offers  of  farms,  and  all  manner  of  land-lots, 
advising  them  to  speculate  before  the  price  of  land  rose  higher.  A  young 
lawyer,  of  my  acquaintance  there,  had  realised  five  hundred  dollars  per 
day,  the  five  preceding  days,  by  merely  making  out  titles  to  land. 
Another  friend  had  realised,  in  two  years,  ten  times  as  much  money 
as  he  had  before  fixed  upon  as  a  competence  for  life.  Of  course,  this 
rapid  money  making  is  a  merely  temporary  evil.  A  bursting  of  the 
bubble  must  come  soon.  The  absurdity  of  the  speculation  is  so  striking, 
that  the  wonder  is  that  the  fever  should  have  attained  such  a  height 
as  I  witnessed.  The  immediate  occasion  of  the  bustle  which  prevailed, 
the  week  we  were  at  Chicago,  was  the  sale  ot  lots,  to  the  value  of  two 
millions  of  dollars,  along  the  course  of  a  projected  canal;  and  of  another 


178  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

set,  immediately  behind  these.  Persons  not  intending  to  game,  and  not 
infected  with  mania,  would  endeavor  to  form  some  reasonable  conjecture 
as  to  the  ultimate  value  of  the  lots,  by  calculating  the  cost  of  the  canal, 
the  risks  from  accident,  from  the  possible  competition  from  other 
places,  &c.,  and,  finally,  the  possible  profits,  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  within  so  many  years'  purchase.  Such  a  calculation 
would  serve  as  some  sort  of  guide  as  to  the  amount  of  purchase  money 
to  be  risked.  Whereas,  wild  land  on  the  banks  of  a  canal,  not  yet  even 
marked  out,  was  selling  at  Chicago  for  more  than  rich  land,  well  im- 
proved, in  the  finest  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  on  the  banks  of 
a  canal  which  is  already  the  medium  of  an  almost  inestimable  amount 
of  traffic.  If  sharpers  and  gamblers  were  to  be  the  sufferers  by  the 
impending  crash  at  Chicago,  no  one  would  feel  much  concerned:  but 
they,  unfortunately,  are  the  people  who  encourage  the  delusion,  in  order 
to  profit  by  it.  Many  a  high-spirited,  but  inexperienced,  young  man; 
many  a  simple  settler,  will  be  ruined  for  the  advantage  of  knaves. 

Others,  besides  lawyers  and  speculators  by  trade,  make  a  fortune 
in  such  extraordinary  times.  A  poor  man  at  Chicago  had  a  preemption 
right  to  some  land,  for  which  he  paid  in  the  morning  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  In  the  afternoon,  he  sold  it  to  a  friend  of  mine  for  five 
thousand  dollars.  A  poor  Frenchman,  married  to  a  squaw,  had  a  suit 
pending,  when  I  was  there,  which  he  was  likely  to  gain,  for  the  right  of 
purchasing  some  land  by  the  lake  for  one  hundred  dollars,  which  would 
immediately  become  worth  one  million  dollars.1 

There  was  much  gaiety  going  on  at  Chicago,  as  well  as  business. 
On  the  evening  of  our  arrival  a  fancy  fair  took  place.  As  I  was  too  much 
fatigued  to  go,  the  ladies  sent  me  a  bouquet  of  prairie  flowers.  There 
is  some  allowable  pride  in  the  place  about  its  society.  It  is  a  remarkable 
thing  to  meet  such  an  assemblage  of  educated,  refined,  and  wealthy 
persons  as  may  be  found  there,  living  in  small,  inconvenient  houses  on 
the  edge  of  a  wild  prairie.  There  is  a  mixture,  of  course.  I  heard  of 
a  family  of  half-breeds  setting  up  a  carriage,  and  wearing  fine  jewelry. 
When  the  present  intoxication  of  prosperity  passes  away,  some  of  the 
inhabitants  will  go  back  to  the  eastward;  there  will  be  an  accession  of 
settlers  from  the  mechanic  classes;  good  houses  will  have  been  built 
for  the  richer  families,  and  the  singularity  of  the  place  will  subside. 
It  will  be  like  all  the  other  new  and  thriving  lake  and  river  ports  of 
America.  Meantime,  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  it  in  its  strange  early  days. 

1  This  refers  to  the  attempt  of  Jean  B.  Beaubien  to  enter  as  a  homestead  a  large  portion 
of  the  Fort  Dearborn  reservation.  Although  he  failed  in  his  effort  he  succeeded  in  arousing 
much  popular  discussion  and  recrimination,  and  the  Beaubien  Land  Claim  became  a  celebrated 
case  in  early  Chicago's  legal  and  social  annals. 


HARRIET  MARTINEAC'S  VISIT  179 

We  dined  one  day  with  a  gentleman*  who  had  been  Indian  agent 
among  the  Winnebagoes  for  some  years.  He  and  his  lady  seem  to 
have  had  the  art  of  making  themselves  as  absolutely  Indian  in  their 
sympathies  and  manners  as  the  welfare  of  the  savages  among  whom 
they  lived  required.  They  were  the  only  persons  I  met  with  who, 
really  knowing  the  Indians,  had  any  regard  for  them.  The  testimony 
was  universal  to  the  good  faith,  and  other  virtues  of  savage  life  of  the 
unsophisticated  Indians;  but  they  were  spoken  of  in  a  tone  of  dislike, 
as  well  as  pity,  by  all  but  this  family;  and  they  had  certainly  studied 
their  Indian  neighbors  very  thoroughly.  The  ladies  of  Indian  agents 
ought  to  be  women  of  nerve.  Our  hostess  had  slept  for  weeks  with  a 
loaded  pistol  on  each  side  her  pillow,  and  a  dagger  under  it,  when 
expecting  an  attack  from  a  hostile  tribe.  The  foe  did  not,  however, 
come  nearer  than  within  a  few  miles.  Her-  husband's  sister  was  in  the 
massacre  [at  Chicago]  when  the  fort  was  abandoned,  in  1812.  Her 
[the  sister's]  father  and  her  husband  were  in  the  battle,  and  her  mother 
and  young  brothers  and  sisters  sat  in  a  boat  on  the  lake  near.  Out  of 
seventy  whites,  only  seventeen  escaped,  among  whom  were  her  family. 
She  was  wounded  in  the  ankle,  as  she  sat  on  her  horse.  A  painted 
Indian,  in  warlike  costume,. came  leaping  up  to  her,  and  seized  her  horse, 
as  she  supposed,  to  murder  her.  She  fought  him  vigorously,  and  he 
bore  it  without  doing  her  any  injury.  He  spoke,  but  she  could  not 
understand  him.  Another  frightful  savage  came  up,  and  the  two  led 
her  horse  to  the  lake,  and  into  it,  in  spite  of  her  resistance,  till  the  water 
reached  their  chins.  She  conclu'ded  that  they  meant  to  drown  her; 
but  they  contented  themselves  with  holding  her  on  her  horse  till  the 
massacre  was  over,  when  they  led  her  out  in  safety.  They  were  friendly 
Indians,  sent  by  her  husband  to  guard  her.  She  could  not  but  admire 
their  patience  when  she  found  how  she  had  been  treating  her  protectors. 

We  had  the  fearful  pleasure  of  seeing  various  savage  dances  per- 
formed by  the  Indian  agent  and  his  brother,  with  the  accompaniments 
of  complete  costume,  barbaric  music,  and  whooping.  The  most  intel- 
ligible to  us  was  the  Discovery  Dance,  a  highly  descriptive  pantomine. 
We  saw  the  Indian  go  out  armed  for  war.  We  saw  him  reconnoitre, 
make  signs  to  his  comrades,  sleep,  warm  himself,  load  his  rifle,  sharpen 
his  scalping  knife,  steal  through  the  grass  within  rifle  shot  of  his  foes, 
fire,  scalp  one  of  them,  and  dance,  whooping  and  triumphing.  There 
was  a  dreadful  truth  about  the  whole,  and  it  made  our  blood  run  cold. 
It  realized  hatred  and  horror  as  effectually  as  Taglioni  does  love  and  grace. 

4  John  H.  Kinzie.     His  "lady"  was  the  future  author  of  Wau  Bun,  some  of  the  stories 
of  which  Miss  Martineau  here  relates  being  incorporated  in  it. 


180  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

We  were  unexpectedly  detained  over  the  Sunday  at  Chicago;  and 
Dr.  F.3  was  requested  to  preach.  Though  only  two  hours'  notice  was 
given,  a  respectable  congregation  was  assembled  in  the  large  room  of  the 
Lake  House;  a  new  hotel  then  building.  Our  seats  were  a  few  chairs 
and  benches,  and  planks  laid  on  trestles.  The  preacher  stood  behind 
a  rough  pine  table,  on  which  a  large  Bible  was  placed.  I  was  never 
present  at  a  more  interesting  service;  and  I  know  that  there  were  others 
who  felt  with  me. 

From  Chicago,  we  made  an  excursion  into  the  prairies.  Our  young 
lawyer-friend4  threw  behind  him  the  five  hundred  dollars  per  day  which 
he  was  making,  and  went  with  us.  I  thought  him  wise;  for  there  is 
that  to  be  had  in  the  wilderness  which  money  cannot  buy.  We  drove 
out  of  the  town  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  too  late  by  two  hours; 
but  it  was  impossible  to  overcome  the  introductions  to  strangers,  and 
the  bustle  of  our  preparations,  any  sooner.  Our  party  consisted  of 
seven,  besides  the  driver.  Our  vehicle  was  a  wagon  with  four  horses. 

We  had  first  to  cross  the  prairie,  nine  miles  wide,  on  the  lake  edge 
of  which  Chicago  stands.  This  prairie  is  not  usually  wet  so  early  in 
the  year;  but  at  this  time  the  water  stood  almost  up  to  the  nave  of  the 
wheels;  and  we  crossed  it  at  a  walking  pace.  I  saw  here,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  United  States,  the  American  primrose.  It  grew  in  profusion 
over  the  whole  prairie,  as  far  as  I  could  see;  not  so  large  and  fine  as  in 
English  greenhouses,  but  graceful  and  pretty.  I  now  found  the  truth 
of  what  I  had  read  about  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  distances  on  a 
prairie.  The  feeling  is  quite  bewildering.  A  man  walking  near  looks 
like  a  Goliath  a  mile  off.  I  mistook  a  covered  wagon  without  horses, 
at  a  distance  of  fifty  yards,  for  a  white  house  near  the  horizon:  and  so  on. 
We  were  not  sorry  to  reach  the  belt  of  trees,  which  bounded  the  swamp 
we  had  passed.  At  a  house  here,  where  we  stopped  to  water  the  horses, 
and  eat  doughnuts,  we  saw  a  crowd  of  emigrants;  which  showed  that 
we  had  not  yet  reached  the  bounds  of  civilization.  A  little  further  on 
we  came  to  the  river  Aux  Plaines  [Des  Plaines],  spelled  on  a  sign  board 
"Oplain."  The  ferry  here  is  a  monopoly,  and  the  public  suffers  accord- 
ingly. There  is  only  one  small  flat  boat  for  the  service  of  the  concourse 
of  people  now  pouring  into  the  prairies.  Though  we  happened  to  arrive 

3  Rev.  Charles  T.  C.  Follen,  an  eminent  scholar  and  Unitarian  minister,  in  whose  party 
Miss  Martineau  was  traveling.  A  native  of  Germany,  Dr.  Follen  was  driven  from  his 
native  land,  from  France,  and  from  Switzerland  in  turn  because  of  his  liberal  tendencies. 
Seeking  refuge  in  America  he  held  a  professorship  for  several  years  at  Harvard,  but  lost  this 
in  1834  because  of  his  championship  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  then  very  unpopular  in 
New  England.  Dr.  Follen  lost  his  life  in  January,  1840,  in  the  burning  of  the  steamer 
".Lexington"  in  Long  Island  Sound. 

'Joseph  N.  Balestier,  author  of  the  selection,  "Annals  of  Chicago,"  which  follows. 


HARRIET  MARTINEAU'S  VISIT  181 

nearly  first  of  the  crowd  of  today,  we  were  detained  on  the  bank  above 
an  hour;  and  then  our  horses  went  over  at  two  crossings,  and  the  wagon 
and  ourselves  at  the  third.  It  was  a  pretty  scene,  if  we  had  not  been  in 
a  hurry;  the  country  wagons  and  teams  in  the  wood  by  the  side  of  the 
quiet  clear  river;  and  the  oxen  swimming  over,  yoked,  with  only  their 
patient  faces  visible  above  the  surface.  After  crossing,  we  proceeded 
briskly  till  we  reached  a  single  house,  where,  or  nowhere,  we  were  to 
dine.  The  kind  hostess  bestirred  herself  to  provide  us  a  good  dinner  of 
tea,  bread,  ham,  potatoes,  and  strawberries,  of  which  a  whole  pailful, 
ripe  and  sweet,  had  been  gathered  by  the  children  in  the  grass  round 
the  house,  within  one  hour.  While  dinner  was  preparing,  we  amused 
ourselves  with  looking  over  an  excellent  small  collection  of  books,  belong- 
ing to  Miss  Cynthia,  the  daughter  of  the  hostess. 

I  never  saw  insulation,  (not  desolation,)  to  compare  with  the  situa- 
tion of  a  settler  on  a  wide  prairie.  A  single  house  in  the  middle  of  Salis- 
bury Plain  would  be  desolate.  A  single  house  on  a  prairie  has  clumps  of 
trees  near  it,  rich  fields  about  it;  and  flowers,  strawberries,  and  running 
water  at  hand.  But  when  I  saw  a  settler's  child  tripping  out  of  home- 
bounds,  I  had  a  feeling  that  it  would  never  get  back  again.  It  looked 
like  putting  out  into  Lake  Michigan  in  a  canoe.  The  soil  round  the 
dwellings  is  very  rich.  It  makes  no  dust,  it  is  so  entirely  vegetable. 
It  requires  merely  to  be  once  turned  over  to  produce  largely;  and,  at 
present,  it  appears  to  be  inexhaustible.  As  we  proceeded,  the  scenery 
became  more  and  more  like  what  all  travelers  compare  it  to, — a  boundless 
English  park.  The  grass  was  wilder,  the  occasional  footpath  not  so 
trim,  and  the  single  trees  less  majestic;  but  no  park  ever  displayed 
anything  equal  to  the  grouping  of  the  trees  within  the  windings  of  the 
blue,  brimming  river  Aux  Plaines. 

We  had  met  with  so  many  delays  that  we  felt  doubts  about  reaching 
the  place  where  we  had  intended  to  spend  the  night.  At  sunset,  we  found 
ourselves  still  nine  miles  from  Joliet;  but  we  were  told  that  the  road  was 
good,  except  a  small  "slew"  or  two;  and  there  was  half  a  moon  shining 
behind  a  thin  veil  of  clouds;  so  we  pushed  on.  We  seemed  latterly  to  be 
traveling  on  a  terrace  overlooking  a  wide  champaign,  where  a  dark 
waving  line  might  indicate  the  winding  of  the  river,  between  its  clumpy 
banks.  Our  driver  descended,  and  went  forward,  two  or  three  times,  to 
make  sure  of  our  road;  and  at  length,  we  rattled  down  a  steep  descent,  and 
found  ourselves  among  houses.  This  was  not  our  resting  place,  however. 
The  Joliet  hotel  lay  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  We  were  directed 
to  a  footbridge  by  which  we  were  to  pass;  and  a  ford  below  for  the 
wagon.  We  strained  our  eyes  in  vain  for  the  footbridge;  and  our 


1 82  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

gentlemen  peeped  and  pryed  about  for  some  time.  All  was  still  but  the 
rippling  river,  and  everybody  asleep  in  the  houses  that  were  scattered 
about.  We  ladies  were  presently  summoned  to  put  on  our  waterproof 
shoes,  and  alight.  A  man  showed  himself  who  had  risen  from  his  bed 
to  help  us  in  our  need.  The  footbridge  consisted,  for  some  way,  of 
two  planks,  with  a  handrail  on  one  side:  but,  when  we  were  about  a 
third  of  the  way  over,  one  half  of  the  planks,  and  the  handrail,  had 
disappeared.  We  actually  had  to  cross  the  rushing,  deep  river  on  a 
line  of  single  planks,  by  dim  moonlight,  at  past  eleven  o'clock  at  night. 
The  great  anxiety  was  about  Charley;  but  between  his  father  and  the 
guide,  he  managed  very  well.  This  guide  would  accept  nothing  but 
thanks.  He  "did  not  calculate  to  take  any  pay."  Then  we  waited 
some  time  for  the  wagon  to  come  up  from  the  ford.  I  suspected  it  had 
passed  the  spot  where  we  stood,  and  had  proceeded  to  the  village,  where 
we  saw  a  twinkling  light,  now  disappearing,  and  now  reappearing.  It 
was  so,  and  the  driver  came  back  to  look  for  us,  and  tell  us  that  the  light 
we  saw  was  a  signal  from  the  hotel  keeper,  whom  we  found,  standing 
on  his  doorstep,  and  sheltering  his  candle  with  his  hand.  We  sat 
down  and  drank  milk  in  the  bar,  while  he  went  to  consult  with  his  wife 
what  was  to  be  done  with  us,  as  every  bed  in  the  house  was  occupied. 
We,  meanwhile,  agreed  that  the  time  was  now  come  for  us  to  enjoy  an 
adventure  which  we  had  often  anticipated,  sleeping  in  a  barn.  We 
had  all  declared  ourselves  anxious  to  sleep  in  a  barn,  if  we  could  meet 
with  one  that  was  airtight,  and  well  supplied  with  hay.  Such  a  barn 
was  actually  on  these  premises.  We  were  prevented,  however,  from 
all  practising  the  freak  by  the  prompt  hospitality  of  our  hostess.  Before 
we  knew  what  she  was  about,  she  had  risen  and  dressed  herself,  put 
clean  sheets  on  her  own  bed,  and  made  up  two  others  on  the  floor  of  the 
same  room;  so  that  the  ladies  and  Charley  were  luxuriously  accom- 
modated. Two  sleepy  personages  crawled  downstairs  to  offer  their 
beds  to  our  gentlemen.  Mr.  L.  and  our  Chicago  friend,  however,  per- 
sisted in  sleeping  in  the  barn.  Next  morning,  we  all  gave  a  very  grati- 
fying report  of  our  lodgings.  When  we  made  our  acknowledgments  to 
our  hostess,  she  said  she  thought  that  people  who  could  go  to  bed  quietly 
every  night  ought  to  be  ready  to  give  up  to  tired  travelers.  Whenever 
she  travels,  I  hope  she  will  be  treated  as  she  treated  us.  She  let  us 
have  breakfast  as  early  as  half-past  five,  the  next  morning,  and  gave 
Charley  a  bun  at  parting,  lest  he  should  be  too  hungry  before  we  could 
dine. 

The  great  object  of  our  expedition,  Mount  Joliet,  was  two  miles 
distant  from  this  place.     We  had  to  visit  it,  and  perform  the  journey 


HARRIET  MARTINEAU'S  VISIT  183 

back  to  Chicago,  forty  miles,  before  night.  The  mount  is  only  sixty  feet 
high;  yet  it  commands  a  view  which  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe, 
either  in  its  vastness,  or  its  soft  beauty.  The  very  spirit  of  tranquillity 
resides  in  this  paradisy  scene.  The  next  painter  who  would  worthily 
illustrate  Milton's  Morning  Hymn,  should  come  and  paint  what  he  sees 
from  Mount  Joliet,  on  a  dewy  summer's  morning,  when  a  few  light 
clouds  are  gently  sailing  in  the  sky,  and  their  shadows  traversing  the 
prairie.  I  thought  I  had  never  seen  green  levels  till  now;  and  only 
among  mountains  had  I  before  known  the  beauty  of  wandering  showers. 
Mount  Joliet  has  the  appearance  of  being  an  artificial  mound,  its  sides 
are  so  uniformly  steep,  and  its  form  so  regular.  Its  declivity  was 
bristling  with  flowers;  among  which  were  conspicuous  the  scarlet  lily, 
the  white  convolvulus,  and  a  tall,  red  flower  of  the  scabia  form.  We 
disturbed  a  nighthawk,  sitting  on  her  eggs,  on  the  ground.  She  wheeled 
round  and  round  over  our  heads,  and,  I  hope,  returned  to  her  eggs  before 
they  were  cold. 

Not  far  from  the  mount  was  a  log  house,  where  the  rest  of  the  party 
went  in  to  dry  their  feet,  after  having  stood  long  in  the  wet  grass.  I 
remained  outside,  watching  the  light  showers,  shifting  in  the  partial 
sunlight  from  clump  to  level,  and  from  reach  to  reach  of  the  brimming 
and  winding  river.  The  nine  miles  of  prairie,  which  we  had  traversed 
in  dim  moonlight  last  night,  were  now  exquisitely  beautiful,  as  the  sun 
shone  fitfully  upon  them. 

We  saw  a  prairie  wolf,  very  like  a  yellow  dog,  trotting  across  our 
path,  this  afternoon.  Our  hostess  of  the  preceding  day,  expecting  us, 
had  an  excellent  dinner  ready  for  us.  We  were  detained  a  shorter  time 
at  the  ferry,  and  reached  the  belt  of  trees  at  the  edge  of  Nine-mile 
Prairie,  before  sunset.  Here,  in  common  prudence,  we  ought  to  have 
stopped  till  the  next  day,  even  if  no  other  accommodation  could  be 
afforded  us  than  a  roof  over  our  heads.  We  deserved  an  ague  for 
crossing  the  swamp  after  dark,  in  an  open  wagon,  at  a  foot  pace.  No- 
body was  aware  of  this  in  time,  and  we  set  forward;  the  feet  of  our  wearied 
horses  plashing  in  water  at  every  step  of  the  nine  miles.  There  was  no 
road;  and  we  had  to  trust  to  the  instinct  of  driver  and  horses  to  keep  us 
in  the  right  direction.  I  rather  think  the  driver  attempted  to  amuse 
himself  by  exciting  our  fears.  He  hinted  more  than  once  at  the  difficulty 
of  finding  the  way;  at  the  improbability  that  we  should  reach  Chicago 
before  midnight;  and  at  the  danger  of  our  wandering  about  the  marsh 
all  night,  and  finding  ourselves  at  the  opposite  edge  of  the  prairie  in  the 
morning.  Charley  was  bruised  and  tired.  All  the  rest  were  hungry 
and  cold.  It  was  very  dreary.  The  driver  bade  us  look  to  our  right 


184  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

hand.  A  black  bear  was  trotting  alongside  of  us,  at  a  little  distance. 
After  keeping  up  his  trot  for  some  time,  he  turned  off  from  our  track. 
The  sight  of  him  made  up  for  all — even  if  ague  should  follow,  which  I 
verily  believed  it  would.  But  we  escaped  all  illness.  It  is  remarkable 
that  I  never  saw  ague  but  once.  The  single  case  that  I  met  with  was 
in  autumn,  at  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 

I  had  promised  Dr.  F.  a  long  story  about  English  politics,  when  a 
convenient  opportunity  should  occur.  I  thought  the  present  an  ad- 
mirable one;  for  nobody  seemed  to  have  anything  to  say,  and  it  was 
highly  desirable  that  something  should  be  said.  I  made  my  story  long 
enough  to  beguile  four  miles;  by  which  time,  some  were  too  tired,  and 
others  too  much  disheartened,  for  more  conversation.  Something 
white  was  soon  after  visible.  Our  driver  gave  out  that  it  was  a  house, 
half  a  mile  from  Chicago.  But  no:  it  was  an  emigrant  encampment, 
on  a  morsel  of  raised,  dry  ground;  and  again  we  were  uncertain  whether 
we  were  in  the  right  road.  Presently,  however,  the  Chicago  beacon 
was  visible,  shining  a  welcome  to  us  through  the  dim,  misty  air.  The 
horses  seemed  to  see  it,  for  they  quickened  their  pace;  and  before  half- 
past  ten,  we  were  on  the  bridge. 

The  family,  at  my  temporary  home,  were  gone  up  to  their  chambers; 
but  the  wood  fire  was  soon  replenished,  tea  made,  and  the  conversation 
growing  lively.  My  companions  were  received  as  readily  at  their 
several  resting  places.  When  we  next  met,  we  found  ourselves  all  dis- 
posed to  place  warm  hospitality  very  high  on  the  list  of  virtues. 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON'S  REMINISCENCES,  1838 

(From  "The  Autobiography  of  Joseph  Jefferson";  copyright  1889,  1890; 
published  by  the  Century  Company) 

|N  the  year  1838  the  new  town  of  Chicago  had  just  turned 
from  an  Indian  village  into  a  thriving  little  place,  and  my 
uncle  had  written  to  my  father  urging  him  to  join  in  the 
management  of  the  new  theater  which  was  then  being  built 
there.  As  each  fresh  venture  presented  itself  my  father's  hopeful 
nature  predicted  immediate  and  successful  results.  He  had  scarcely 
finished  the  letter  when  he  declared  that  our  fortunes  were  made,  so  we 
turned  our  faces  towards  the  setting  sun.  In  those  days  a  journey  from 
Albany  to  Chicago  was  no  small  undertaking  for  a  large  family  in  strait- 
ened circumstances;  certain  cherished  articles  had  to  be  parted  with  to 
procure  necessary  comforts  for  the  trip.  I  really  do  not  know  how, 
but  we  got  from  Albany  to  Schenectady,  where  we  acted  for  a  few  nights 
with  a  company  that  was  playing  there.  Several  of  the  actors,  who  had 
received  no  salary  for  some  time,  decided  to  accompany  my  father  and 
seek  their  fortunes  in  the  West. 

As  I  remember  it,  our  journey  was  long,  but  not  tedious.  We 
traveled  part  of  the  way  in  a  fast-sailing  packet  boat  on  the  Erie  Canal, 
the  only  smoke  issuing  from  the  caboose  stovepipe.  I  can  remember 
our  party  admiring  this  craft  with  the  same  enthusiasm  that  we  now 
express  in  looking  at  a  fine  ocean  steamer.  She  was  painted  white  and 
green  and  enlivened  with  blue  window  blinds,  and  a  broad  red  stripe  running 
from  bow  to  stern.  Her  name  was  the  Pioneer,  which  was  to  us  most 
suggestive,  as  our  little  band  was  among  the  early  dramatic  emigrants 
to  the  far  West.  The  boat  resembled  a  Noah's  ark  with  a  flat  roof, 
and  my  father,  like  the  patriarch  of  old,  took  his  entire  family  on  board, 
with  this  difference,  however— he  was  required  to  pay  his  passage,  it 
being  understood  between  him  and  the  captain  that  he  should  stop 
a  night  in  Utica  and  one  in  Syracuse,  give  a  theatrical  entertainment 
in  each  place,  and  hand  over  the  receipts  in  payment  of  our  fare. 

We  acted  in  Utica  for  one  night,  and  the  receipts  were  quite  good. 
My  father  and  mother  were  in  high  spirits,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 


1 86  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

the  captain  had  hopes  that  the  next  night's  entertainment  in  Syracuse 
would  liquidate  our  liabilities,  for  there  was  a  visible  improvement  in 
the  coffee  at  breakfast,  and  an  extra  piece  of  pie  all  around  for  dinner. 
The  next  night,  unfortunately,  the  elements  were  against  us:  it  rained 
in  torrents  and  the  attendance  was  light,  so  that  we  were  short  of  our 
passage  money  about  ten  dollars. 

The  captain  being  a  strict  member  of  the Church  could  not 

attend  either  of  the  performances,  and  as  he  was  in  his  heart  most  anxious 
to  see  what  acting  was  like,  he  proposed  that  if  the  company  would 
"cut  up"  for  him  and  give  him  a  private  show  in  the  cabin  he  would 
call  it  "square."  Our  actors,  being  highly  legitimate,  declined;  but 
my  mother,  ever  anxious  to  show  off  the  histrionic  qualities  of  her  son, 
proposed  that  I  should  sing  some  comic  songs  for  the  captain,  and  so 
ransom  the  rest  of  the  actors.  The  captain  turned  it  over  in  his  mind — 
being,  I  am  afraid,  a  little  suspicious  of  my  genius — but  after  due 
consideration  consented.  So  he  prepared  himself  for  the  entertainment, 
the  cook  and  my  mother  comprising  the  rest  of  the  audience.  The 
actors  had  wisely  retired  to  the  upper  deck,  as  they  had  been  afflicted 
on  former  occasions.  I  now  began  a  dismal  comic  song  called  "The 
Devil  and  Little  Mike."  It  consisted  of  some  twenty-five  stanzas, 
each  one  containing  two  lines  with  a  large  margin  of  "whack  fol  de 
riddle."  It  was  never  quite  clear  whether  the  captain  enjoyed  this 
entertainment  or  not:  my  mother  said  he  did,  for,  though  the  religious 
turn  of  his  mind  would  naturally  suppress  any  impulse  to  applaud,  he 
said  even  before  I  had  half  finished  that  he  was  quite  satisfied. 

On  our  arrival  in  Buffalo  we  found  another  pioneer  company, 
under  the  management  of  Dean  and  McKenney.  Here  we  staid  over 
two  or  three  days,  waiting  for  the  steamer  to  take  us  up  the  lakes. 
Marble  was  starring  there;  he  was  one  of  the  first  and  best  of  the  Yankee 
comedians.  In  those  days  the  stage  New  Englander  was  acted  and 
dressed  in  a  most  extravagant  manner.  I  remember  seeing  Marble 
play,  and  his  costume  was  much  after  the  present  caricature  of  Uncle 
Sam,  minus  the  stars  but  glorying  in  the  stripes. 

In  a  few  days  we  steamed  up  the  beautiful  lakes  of  Erie,  Huron, 
and  Michigan.  The  boat  would  stop  sometimes  for  hours  at  one  of  the 
stations  to  take  in  wood,  or  a  stray  passenger,  and  then  the  Indians 
would  paddle  out  to  us  in  their  canoes  offering  their  beadwork  and  moc- 
casins for  sale.  Sometimes  we  would  go  ashore  and  walk  on  the  beach 
gathering  pebbles,  carnelians  and  agates.  I  thought  them  of  immense 
value,  and  kept  my  treasures  for  years  afterwards.  What  a  lovely  trip 
it  was  as  I  remember  it!  Lake  Huron  at  sunset  is  before  me  now — a 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON'S  REMINISCENCES  187 

purple  sky  melting  into  a  golden  horizon;  rich  green  foliage  on  the 
banks;  yellow  sand  with  many-colored  pebbles  making  the  beach  of  the 
lake;  the  clear  and  glassy  water;  groups  of  Indians  lolling  on  the  banks, 
smoking  their  pipes  and  making  baskets;  the  hills  dotted  with  their 
little  villages  with  tents  made  of  skins  and  painted  canvas;  blue  smoke 
curling  slowly  up  in  the  calm  summer  air;  and  all  the  bright  colors  re- 
flected in  the  lake.  I  stood  there  as  a  boy,  skimming  flat  stones  over  the 
surface  of  the  water,  and  now  as  I  write  in  the  autumn  of  my  life  these 
once  quiet  shores  are  covered  with  busy  cities;  the  furnaces  glow  with 
melted  iron,  the  locomotive  screams  and  whistles  along  the  road  where 
once  the  ox-teams  used  to  carry  the  mail,  and  corner  lots  and  real-estate 
agents  "fill  the  air."  When  we  think  that  all  these  wonderful  changes 
have  taken  place  within  the  last  fifty  years,  it  is  startling  to  speculate 
upon  what  the  next  half  century  may  bring  about. 

So  day  by  day  passes,  till  one  night  a  light  is  espied  in  the  distance, 
then  another,  and  then  many  more  dance  and  reflect  themselves  in  the 
water.  It  is  too  late  to  go  ashore,  so  we  drop  anchor.  At  sunrise 
we  are  all  on  deck  looking  at  the  haven  of  our  destination,  and  there  in 
the  morning  light,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  stands  the  little 
town  of  Chicago,  containing  two  thousand  inhabitants.  Aunt,  uncle, 
and  their  children  come  to  meet  and  welcome  us.  Then  there  is  such 
a  shaking  of  hands  and  a  kiss  all  round,  and  "Why,  how  well  you  are 
looking!"  and  "Is  this  Charlie?  How  he  has  grown!"  "Why,  that's 
not  Joe!  Dear  me,  who'd  have  believed  it?"  And  then  we  all  laugh 
again  and  have  another  kiss. 

The  captain  said  he  had  enjoyed  a  splendid  trip,  such  fun,  such 
music  and  singing  and  dancing.  "Well,  good-bye  all,"  "Good  luck"; 
and  off  we  go  ashore  and  walk  through  the  busy  little  town,  busy  even 
then,  people  hurrying  to  and  fro,  frame  buildings  going  up,  board  side- 
walks going  down,  new  hotels,  new  churches,  new  theaters,  everything 
new.  Saw  and  hammer — saw,  saw,  bang,  bang — look  out  for  the 
drays! — bright  and  muddy  streets — gaudy-colored  calicoes — blue  and 
red  flannels  and  striped  ticking  hanging  outside  the  dry-goods  stores — 
bar-rooms — real-estate  offices — attorneys-at-law — oceans  of  them. 

And  now  for  the  new  theater,  newly  painted  canvas,  tack-hammer 
at  work  on  stuffed  seats  in  the  dress-circle,  planing-boards  in  the  pit, 
new  drop  curtain  let  down  for  inspection,  "beautiful!" — a  medallion  of 
Shakspere,  suffering  from  a  severe  pain  in  his  stomach,  over  the  center, 
with  "One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin"  written  under 
him,  and  a  large,  painted,  brick-red  drapery  looped  up  by  Justice,  with 
sword  and  scales,  showing  an  arena  with  a  large  number  of  gladiators 


1 88  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

hacking  away  at  one  another  in  the  distance  to  a  delighted  Roman  public; 
though  what  Justice  had  to  do  with  keeping  these  gladiators  on  exhibition 
was  never  clearly  explained  by  the  artist.  There  were  two  private 
boxes  with  little  white-and-gold  balustrades  and  turkey  red  curtains, 
over  one  box  a  portrait  of  Beethoven  and  over  the  other  a  portrait  of 
Handel — upon  unfriendly  terms,  glaring  at  each  other.  The  dome  was  pale 
blue,  with  pink-and-white  clouds,  on  which  reposed  four  ungraceful  ballet 
girls  representing  the  seasons,  and  apparently  dropping  flowers,  snow, 
and  grapes  into  the  pit.  Over  each  season  there  floated  four  fat  little 
cherubim  "in  various  stages  of  spinal  curvature." 

My  father  being  a  scenic  artist  himself,  was  naturally  disposed  to 
be  critical,  and  when  the  painter  asked  his  opinion  of  the  dome,  he  replied: 

"Well,  since  you  ask  me,  don't  you  think  that  your  angels  are  a 
little  stiff"  in  their  attitudes?" 

"No,  sir;  not  for  angels.  When  I  deal  with  mythological  subjects 
I  never  put  my  figures  in  natural  attitudes;  it  would  be  inharmonious. 
A  natural  angel  would  be  out  of  keeping  with  the  rest  of  the  work." 

To  which  my  father  replied  that  it  was  quite  likely  that  such 
would  be  the  case.  "But  why  have  you  made  Handel  and  Beethoven 
frown  at  each  other?  They  are  not  mythological  subjects." 

"No,  no,"  said  the  painter.  "But  they  are  musicians,  you  know; 
and  great  musicians  always  quarrel,  eh?  Ha,  ha!" 

"Yes,"  said  my  father;  "but  as  Handel  died  before  Beethoven  was 
born,  I  don't  see  how  any  coolness  could  have  existed  between  them." 

The  foregoing  dialogue,  while  it  may  not  be  verbatim,  is  at  least 
in  the  spirit  of  the  original.  I  could  not  possibly  remember  the  exact 
words  of  the  different  conversations  that  will  naturally  occur  through 
these  chapters;  but  I  have  placed  them  in  their  present  form,  as  I  believe  it 
is  the  clearest  and  most  effective  way  to  tell  the  story.  Many  of  the  con- 
versations and  incidents  are  traditional  in  my  family;  I  have  good  reason 
to  take  them  for  granted,  and  I  must  ask  the  reader  to  share  my  confidence. 

The  greenroom  was  a  perfect  gem,  with  a  three-foot  wavy  mirror 
and  cushioned  seats  around  the  wall — traps  under  the  stage  so  conven- 
ient that  Ophelia  could  walk  from  her  grave  to  her  dressing  room  with 
perfect  ease. 

With  what  delight  the  actors  looked  forward  to  the  opening  of  a 
new  theater  in  a  new  town,  where  dramatic  entertainments  were  still 
unknown — repairing  their  wardrobes,  studying  their  new  parts,  and 
speculating  on  the  laurels  that  were  to  be  won! 

After  a  short  season  in  Chicago,  with  the  varying  success  which  in 
those  days  always  attended  the  drama,  the  company  went  to  Galena 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON'S  REMINISCENCES  189 

for  a  short  season,  traveling  in  open  wagons  over  the  prairie.  Our  seats 
were  the  trunks  that  contained  the  wardrobe — those  old-fashioned  hair 
trunks  of  a  mottled  and  spotted  character  made  from  the  skins  of  defunct 
circus  horses:  "To  what  base  uses  we  may  return!"  These  smooth 
hair  trunks,  with  geometrical  problems  in  brass  tacks  ornamenting  their 
surface,  would  have  made  slippery  seats  even  on  a  macadamized  road, 
so  one  may  imagine  the  difficulty  we  had  in  holding  on  while  jolting  over 
a  rough  prairie.  Nothing  short  of  a  severe  pressure  on  the  brass  tacks 
and  a  convulsive  grip  of  the  handles  could  have  kept  us  in  position; 
and  whenever  a  treacherous  handle  gave  way  our  company  was  for  the 
time  being  just  one  member  short.  As  we  were  not  an  express  mail- 
train,  of  course  we  were  allowed  more  than  twenty  minutes  for  refresh- 
ments; the  only  difficulty  was  the  refreshments.  We  stopped  at  farm- 
houses on  the  way  for  this  uncertain  necessity,  and  they  were  far  apart. 
If  the  roads  were  heavy  and  the  horses  jaded,  those  actors  who  had  ten- 
der hearts  and  tough  limbs  jumped  out  and  walked  to  ease  the  poor 
brutes.  Often  I  have  seen  my  father  trudging  along  ahead  of  the  wagon, 
smoking  his  pipe,  and  I  have  no  doubt  thinking  of  the  large  fortune 
he  was  going  to  make  in  the  next  town,  now  and  then  looking  back  with 
his  light  blue  eyes,  giving  my  mother  a  cheerful  nod  which  plainly  said: 
"I'm  all  right.  This  is  splendid;  nothing  could  be  finer."  If  it  rained 
he  was  glad  it  was  not  snowing;  if  it  snowed  he  was  thankful  it  was  not 
raining.  This  contented  nature  was  his  only  inheritance;  but  it  was 
better  than  a  fortune  made  in  Galena  or  anywhere  else,  for  nothing 
could  rob  him  of  it. 

We  traveled  from  Galena  to  Dubuque  on  the  frozen  river  in  sleighs- 
smoother  work  than  the  roughly  rutted  roads  of  the  prairie;  but  it  was 
a  perilous  journey,  for  a  warm  spell  had  set  in  and  made  the  ice  sloppy 
and  unsafe.  We  would  sometimes  hear  it  crack  and  see  it  bend  under 
our  horses'  feet:  now  a  long-drawn  breath  of  relief  as  we  passed  some 
dangerous  spot,  then  a  convulsive  grasping  of  our  nearest  companion 
as  the  ice  groaned  and  shook  beneath  us.  Well,  the  passengers  arrived 
safe,  but,  horror  to  relate!  the  sleigh  containing  the  baggage,  private 
and  public,  with  the  scenery  and  properties,  green  curtain  and  drop, 
broke  through  the  ice  and  tumbled  into  the  Mississippi.  My  poor 
mother  was  in  tears,  but  my  father  was  in  high  spirits  at  his  good  luck, 
as  he  called  it — because  there  was  a  sand-bar  where  the  sleigh  went  in !  So 
the  things  were  saved  at  last,  though  in  a  forlorn  condition.  The  opening 
had  to  be  delayed  in  order  to  dry  the  wardrobe  and  smooth  the  scenery. 

The  halls  of  the  hotel  were  strung  with  clothes-lines,  and  the  cos- 
tumes of  all  nations  festooned  the  doors  of  the  bedrooms,  so  that  when 


190  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

an  unsuspicious  boarder  came  out  suddenly  into  the  entry  he  was  likely 
to  run  his  head  into  a  damp  "Roman"  shirt,  or  perhaps  have  the  legs 
of  a  soaking  pair  of  red  tights  dangling  round  his  neck.  Mildew 
filled  the  air.  The  gilded  pasteboard  helmets  fared  the  worst.  They 
had  succumbed  to  the  softening  influences  of  the  Mississippi,  and  were 
as  battered  and  out  of  shape  as  if  they  had  gone  through  the  pass  of 
Thermopylae.  Limp  leggings  of  scale  armor  hung  wet  and  dejected 
from  the  lines;  low-spirited  cocked  hats  were  piled  up  in  a  corner; 
rough-dried  court  coats  stretched  their  arms  out  as  if  in  the  agony  of 
drowning,  as  though  they  would  say,  "Help  me,  Cassius,  or  I  sink." 
Theatrical  scenery  at  its  best  looks  pale  and  shabby  in  the  daytime,  but 
a  well-worn  set  after  a  six-hours'  bath  in  a  river  presents  the  most  woe- 
begone appearance  that  can  well  be  imagined;  the  sky  and  water  of  the 
marine  had  so  mingled  with  each  other  that  the  horizon  line  had  quite 
disappeared.  My  father  had  painted  the  scenery,  and  he  was  not  a 
little  crestfallen  as  he  looked  upon  the  ruins:  a  wood  scene  had  amal- 
gamated with  a  Roman  street  painted  on  the  back  of  it,  and  had  so  run 
into  stains  and  winding  streaks  that  he  said  it  looked  like  a  large  map 
of  South  America;  and,  pointing  out  the  Andes  with  his  cane,  he  humor- 
ously traced  the  Amazon  to  its  source.  Of  course  this  mishap  on  the 
river  delayed  the  opening  for  a  week.  In  the  mean  time  the  scenery 
had  to  be  repainted  and  the  wardrobe  put  in  order:  many  of  the  things 
were  ruined,  and  the  helmets  defied  repair. 

After  a  short  and,  I  think,  a  good  season  at  Dubuque,  we  traveled 
along  the  river  to  the  different  towns  just  springing  up  in  the  West- 
Burlington,  Quincy,  Peoria,  Pekin,  and  Springfield.  In  those  primitive 
days,  I  need  scarcely  say,  we  were  often  put  to  severe  shifts  for  a  theater. 

In  Quincy  the  courthouse  was  fitted  up,  and  it  answered  admirably. 
In  one  town  a  large  warehouse  was  utilized,  but  in  Pekin  we  were  reduced 
to  the  dire  necessity  of  acting  in  a  pork-house.  This  establishment  was 
a  large  frame  building,  stilted  up  on  piles  about  two  feet  from  the  ground, 
and  situated  in  the  open  prairie  just  at  the  edge  of  the  town.  The  pigs 
were  banished  from  their  comfortable  quarters,  and  left  to  browse  about 
on  the  common  during  the  day,  taking  shelter  under  their  former  abode 
in  the  evening.  After  undergoing  some  slight  repairs  in  the  roof,  and 
submitting  to  a  thorough  scouring  and  whitewashing,  the  building 
presented  quite  a  respectable  appearance.  The  opening  play  was 
"Clari,  the  Maid  of  Milan."  This  drama  was  written  by  John  Howard 
Payne,  and  his  song  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home"  belongs  to  the  play.  My 
mother,  on  this  occasion,  played  the  part  of  Clari  and  sang  the  touching 
ballad. 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON'S  REMINISCENCES  191 

Now  it  is  a  pretty  well  established  fact  in  theatrical  history  that 
if  an  infant  has  been  smuggled  into  the  theater  under  the  shawl  of  its 
fond  mother,  however  dormant  it  may  have  been  during  the  unimportant 
scenes  of  the  play,  no  sooner  is  an  interesting  point  arrived  at,  where  the 
most  perfect  stillness  is  required,  than  the  "dear  little  innocent"  will 
break  forth  in  lamentation  loud  and  deep.  On  this  occasion  no  youth- 
ful humanity  disturbed  the  peace,  but  the  "animal  kingdom,"  in  the 
shape  of  the  banished  pigs,  asserted  its  rights  to  a  public  hearing.  As 
soon  as  the  song  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home"  commenced  they  began  by 
bumping  their  backs  up  against  the  beams,  keeping  anything  but  good 
time  to  the  music;  and  as  my  mother  plaintively  chanted  the  theme 
"Sweet,  Sweet  Home,"  realizing  their  own  cruel  exile,  the  pigs  squealed 
most  dismally.  Of  course  the  song  was  ruined,  and  my  mother  was  in 
tears  at  the  failure.  My  father,  however,  consoled  her  by  saying  that 
though  the  grunting  was  not  quite  in  harmony  with  the  music,  it  was  in 
perfect  sympathy  with  the  sentiment. 

Springfield  being  the  capital  of  Illinois,  it  was  determined  to  devote 
the  entire  season  to  the  entertainment  of  the  members  of  the  legislature. 
Having  made  money  for  several  weeks  previous  to  our  arrival  here,  the 
management  resolved  to  hire  a  lot  and  build  a  theater.  This  sounds 
like  a  large  undertaking,  and  perhaps  with  their  limited  means  it  was  a 
rash  step.  I  fancy  that  my  father  rather  shrunk  from  this  bold  enter- 
prise, but  the  senior  partner  (McKenzie)  was  made  of  sterner  stuff,  and, 
his  energy  being  quite  equal  to  his  ambition,  the  ground  was  broken 
and  the  temple  erected. 

The  building  of  a  theater  in  those  days  did  not  require  the  amount 
of  capital  that  it  does  now.  Folding  opera  chairs  were  unknown.  Gas 
was  an  occult  mystery,  not  yet  acknowledged  as  a  fact  by  the  unscien- 
tific world  in  the  West;  a  second-class  quality  of  sperm  oil  was  the 
height  of  any  manager's  ambition.  The  footlights  of  the  best  theaters 
in  the  Western  country  were  composed  of  lamps  set  in  a  "float"  with  the 
counter-weights.  When  a  dark  stage  was  required,  or  the  lamps  need 
trimming  or  refilling,  this  mechanical  contrivance  was  made  to  sink 
under  the  stage.  I  believe  if  the  theater,  or  "Devil's  workshop,"  as  it 
was  sometimes  called,  had  suddenly  been  illuminated  with  the  same 
material  now  in  use,  its  enemies  would  have  declared  that  the  light  was 
furnished  from  the  "Old  Boy's"  private  gasometer. 

The  new  theater,  when  completed,  was  about  ninety  feet  deep  and 
forty  feet  wide.  No  attempt  was  made  at  ornamentation;  and  as  it  was 
unpainted,  the  simple  lines  of  architecture  upon  which  it  was  constructed 
gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  large  drygoods  box  with  a  roof.  I  do  not 


192  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

think  my  father,  or  McKenzie,  ever  owned  anything  with  a  roof  until 
now,  so  they  were  naturally  proud  of  their  possession. 

In  the  midst  of  our  rising  fortunes  a  heavy  blow  fell  upon  us.  A 
religious  revival  was  in  progress  at  the  time,  and  the  fathers  of  the 
church  not  only  launched  forth  against  us  in  their  sermons,  but  by  some 
political  maneuver  got  the  city  to  pass  a  new  law  enjoining  a  heavy 
license  against  our  "unholy"  calling;  I  forget  the  amount,  but  it  was 
large  enough  to  be  prohibitory.  Here  was  a  terrible  condition  of  affairs: 
all  our  available  funds  invested,  the  legislature  in  session,  the  town  full 
of  people,  and  we  by  a  heavy  license  denied  the  privilege  of  opening  the 
new  theater! 

In  the  midst  of  their  trouble  a  young  lawyer  called  on  the  managers. 
He  had  heard  of  the  injustice,  and  offered,  if  they  would  place  the  matter 
in  his  hands,  to  have  the  license  taken  off,  declaring  that  he  only  desired 
to  see  fair  play,  and  he  would  accept  no  fee  whether  he  failed  or  suc- 
ceeded. The  case  was  brought  up  before  the  council.  The  young  lawyer 
began  his  harangue.  He  handled  the  subject  with  tact,  skill,  and 
humor,  tracing  the  history  of  the  drama  from  the  time  when  Thespis 
acted  in  a  cart  to  the  stage  of  today.  He  illustrated  his  speech  with  a 
number  of  anecdotes,  and  kept  the  council  in  a  roar  of  laughter;  his 
good  humor  prevailed,  and  the  exorbitant  tax  was  taken  off. 

This  young  lawyer  was  very  popular  in  Springfield,  and  was  honored 
and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  after  the  time  of  which  I  write 
he  held  rather  an  important  position  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States.  He  now  lies  buried  near  Springfield,  under  a  monument  com- 
memorating his  greatness  and  his  virtues — and  his  name  was  Abraham 
Lincoln ! 


THE  ANNALS  OF  CHICAGO  IN  1840 

\HE  year  1836  is  especially  memorable  in  the  Annals  of  Chi- 
cago. An  unregulated  spirit  of  speculation  had  manifested 
itself  very  decidedly  throughout  the  whole  country  in  the 
(year  1835,  which  in  the  succeeding  year  attained  it  acme. 
The  cities  of  the  east  were  visited  with  an  epidemic  madness  which 
found  its  way  into  every  hamlet  in  the  Atlantic  states.  It  was  suddenly 
discovered  that  the  American  people  had  labored  under  serious  mis- 
apprehensions with  regard  to  the  value  of  land,  especially  that  which 
lay  in  cities  and  villages.  No  sooner  was  this  startling  discovery  made, 
than  the  price  of  real  property  suddenly  rose  a  hundred,  and  frequently 
a  thousandfold.  Sagacious  men,  looking  far  into  the  future,  now  per- 
ceived that  cities  and  villages  covering  only  a  few  acres  of  land,  were 
soon  destined  to  extend  over  an  illimitable  domain.  Visions  of  the 
glorious  future  filled  the  imaginations  of  the  multitude;  wherever  the 
surveyor  took  the  magic  chain  and  compass — no  matter  how  remote 
from  population — there  it  became  certain  that  a  mighty  city  would,  at 
no  distant  day,  arise.  Paper  cities  flourished  in  a  manner  unparal- 
leled, and  the  public  mind  became  utterly  diseased. 

This  unwholesome  spirit  was  confined  to  no  classes — it  extended 
itself  into  every  walk  of  life.  The  farmer  forsook  the  plow,  and  became 
a  speculator  upon  the  surface  of  the  soil,  instead  of  a  producer  from 
beneath  the  sod.  If  happily  a  city  or  a  village  were  in  his  vicinity,  the 
farm  was  laid  off  in  lots  and  exhibited  on  a  map.  The  mechanic  laid 
aside  his  tools  and  resolved  to  grow  rich  without  labor.  The  lawyer 
sold  his  books  and  invested  the  proceeds  in  lands.  The  physician 
"threw  physic  to  the  dogs,"  and  wrote  promissory  notes  instead  of 
prescriptions.  Even  the  day  laborer  became  learned  in  the  mysteries  of 
quit-claim  and  warranty,  and  calculated  his  fortune  by  thousands. 

When  the  mass  of  the  community  thus  abandoned  or  neglected  their 
proper  pursuits,  it  may  readily  be  assumed  that  the  ignoble  few  who 
were  willing  to  work,  received  an  ample  reward  for  their  pains.  The 
price  of  labor  was  exorbitant;  the  simplest  service  was  purchased  at 
a  dear  rate.  Even  the  barbers,  who,  since  the  days  of  Abraham,  had 
shaved  for  six-pence,  discovered  that  they  had  been  working  at  half 


194  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

price.  The  great  increase  of  consumers,  and  the  proportionate  decrease 
of  producers,  rendered  the  price  of  provisions  enormous. 

To  the  merchant  especially,  this  appeared  to  be  the  golden  era; 
but  alas!  he  soon  learned  that  it  was  the  age  of  dross.  Had  he  been 
prudent — had  he  confined  himself  to  his  proper  vocation,  and  kept  clear 
of  over-expansion,  he  might  have  done  well.  But  the  spirit  of  the  times 
drowned  the  voice  of  reason.  Credit,  reckless  and  indiscriminate,  was 
the  master  principle  of  those  wild  and  maddening  days.  Overleaping 
every  barrier,  disdaining  restraint,  tempting  the  inexperienced  and 
unwary,  laughing  to  scorn  the  calculating  and  prudent,  alluring  the 
ignorant  and  avaricious — the  evil  spirit  went  forth,  sowing  at  broadcast 
the  prolific  seeds  of  bankruptcy  and  ruin. 

To  the  abuse  of  credit  then,  did  the  country  in  a  great  degree  owe  its 
disasters.  Already  had  the  banks,  which  greatly  multiplied  at  this 
period,  issued  sufficient  paper  promises  to  create  a  spirit  of  wild  extrava- 
gance; but  the  property  of  the  country  rose  too  rapidly  in  value  to  be 
represented  by  an  inflated  bank  note  circulation.  Individuals,  therefore, 
in  humble  imitation  of  the  banks,  issued  their  notes  without  stint  or 
limit.  The  merchant  trusted,  without  discrimination,  all  who  chose 
to  buy,  and  he  gloried  in  the  fictitious  profits  which  appeared  upon  his 
ledger.  He  thought  it  prudent  to  diversify  his  pursuits  by  purchasing 
land  on  credit,  confiding  in  his  surplus  profits  as  a  means  of  payment. 
In  this  manner  obligations  to  the  amount  of  millions,  were  contracted 
for  an  imaginary  consideration. 

If  old  established  communities  were  thus  frighted  from  their  pro- 
priety, it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  rising  village  of  Chicago  could 
escape  the  contagion.  The  year  1835  found  us  just  awakened  to  a  sense 
of  our  own  importance.  A  short  time  before,  the  price  of  the  best  lots 
did  not  exceed  two  or  three  hundred  dollars;  and  the  rise  had  been  so 
rapid  that  property  could  not  from  the  nature  of  things  have  acquired 
an  ascertained  value.  In  our  case,  therefore,  the  inducements  to 
speculation  were  particularly  strong;  and  as  no  fixed  value  could  be 
assigned  to  property,  so  no  price  could  by  any  established  standard 
be  deemed  extravagant.  Moreover,  nearly  all  who  came  to  the  place 
expected  to  amass  fortunes  by  speculating.  The  wonder  then  is,  not 
that  we  speculated  so  much,  but  rather  that  we  did  not  rush  more  madly 
into  the  vortex  of  ruin.  Well  indeed  would  it  have  been,  had  our  wild 
speculations  been  confined  to  Chicago;  here  at  least  there  was  some- 
thing received  in  exchange  for  the  money  and  notes  of  the  purchaser. 
But  the  few  square  miles  which  composed  Chicago,  formed  but  a  small 
item  among  the  subjects  of  speculation.  So  utterly  reckless  had  the 


THE  ANNALS  OF  CHICAGO  IN  1840  195 

community  grown,  that  they  chased  every  bubble  which  floated  in  the 
speculative  atmosphere;  madness  increased  in  proportion  to  the  foulness 
of  its  aliment;  the  more  absurd  the  project,  the  more  remote  the  object, 
the  more  madly  were  they  pursued.  The  prairies  of  Illinois,  the  forests 
of  Wisconsin,  and  the  sand  hills  of  Michigan,  presented  a  chain  almost 
unbroken  of  supposititious  villages  and  cities.  The  whole  land  seemed 
staked  out  and  peopled  on  paper.  If  a  man  were  reputed  to  be  fortunate, 
his  touch,  like  that  of  Midas,  was  supposed  to  turn  every  thing  into 
gold,  and  the  crowd  entered  blindly  into  every  project  he  might  originate. 
These  worthies  would  besiege  the  land  offices,  and  purchase  town-sites 
at  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre,  which  in  a  few  days  appeared  upon 
paper,  laid  out  in  the  most  approved  rectangular  fashion,  emblazoned 
in  glaring  colors,  and  exhibiting  the  public  spirit  of  the  proprietor  in  the 
multitude  of  their  public  squares,  church  lots,  and  school  reservations. 
Often  was  a  fictitious  streamlet  seen  to  wind  its  romantic  course  through 
the  heart  of  an  ideal  city,  thus  creating  water  lots  and  water  privileges. 
But  where  a  real  stream,  however  diminutive,  did  find  its  way  to  the 
shore  of  the  lake — no  matter  what  was  the  character  of  the  surrounding 
country — some  wary  operator  would  ride  night  and  day  until  the  prize 
was  secured  at  the  government  price.  Then  the  miserable  waste  of  sand 
and  fens  which  lay  unconscious  of  its  glory  on  the  shore  of  the  lake, 
was  suddenly  elevated  into  a  mighty  city,  with  a  projected  harbor  and 
lighthouse,  railroads  and  canals,  and  in  a  short  time  the  circumjacent 
lands  were  sold  in  lots  50  feet  by  100  under  the  names  of  "additions." 
Not  the  puniest  brook  which  approached  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan 
was  suffered  to  remain  without  a  city  at  its  mouth,  and  whoever  will 
travel  around  that  lake  shall  find  many  a  mighty  mart  staked  out  in 
spots  suitable  only  for  the  habitations  of  wild  beasts. 

If  a  man  were  so  fortunate  as  to  have  a  disputed  title,  it  made  no 
great  difference  where  the  land  lay,  or  how  slender  was  his  claim;  his 
fortune  was  made;  for  the  very  insecurity  of  the  purchase  made  it 
desirable  in  the  eyes  of  the  venturous. 

A  powerful  auxiliary  to  the  speculating  spirit  was  the  sale  of  lands 
by  auction. 

When  bodies  of  men  actuated  by  a  common  motive,  assemble 
together  for  a  common  object,  zeal  is  apt  to  run  into  enthusiasm;  when 
the  common  passion  is  artfully  inflamed  by  a  skilful  orator,  enthusiasm 
becomes  fanaticism,  and  fanaticism  madness.  Men  who  wish  to  be 
persuaded  are  already  more  than  half  won  over,  and  an  excited  imagina- 
tion will  produce  almost  any  anticipated  result.  Popular  delusions  have 
carried  away  millions  at  a  time;  mental  epidemics  have  raged  at  every 


196  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

period  of  the  world's  history,  and  conviction  has  been  ever  potent  to  work 
miracles.  Now  the  speculating  mania  was  an  epidemic  of  the  mind, 
and  every  chord  struck  by  the  chief  performers  produced  endless  vibra- 
tions, until  the  countless  tones  of  the  full  diapason  broke  forth  in  mad- 
dening strains  of  fascination. 

The  auctioneers  were  the  high  priests  who  sacrificed  in  the  Temple 
of  Fortune;  through  them  the  speculators  spread  abroad  their  specious 
representations.  Like  the  Sybils  and  Flamens  of  old,  they  delivered 
false  oracles,  and  made  a  juggle  of  omens  and  auguries. 

But  the  day  of  retribution  was  at  hand;  the  reaction  came  on,  and 
the  professional  speculator  and  his  victims  were  swallowed  up  in  one 
common  ruin.  Trusting  to  the  large  sums  due  to  him,  the  land  operator 
involved  himself  more  and  more  deeply,  until  his  fate  was  more  pitiable 
than  that  of  his  defrauded  dupes.  The  year  1837  will  ever  be  remem- 
bered as  the  era  of  protested  notes;  it  was  the  harvest  of  the  notary  and 
the  lawyer — the  year  of  wrath  to  the  mercantile,  producing,  and  labor- 
ing interests.  Misery  inscribed  its  name  on  many  a  face  but  lately 
radiant  with  high  hopes;  despair  was  stamped  on  many  a  countenance 
which  had  wont  to  be  "wreathed  in  smiles."  Broken  fortunes,  blasted 
hopes,  aye,  and  blighted  characters;  these  were  the  legitimate  offspring 
of  those  pestilent  times.  The  land  resounded  with  the  groans  of  ruined 
men  and  the  sobs  of  defrauded  women  who  had  entrusted  their  all  to 
greedy  speculators.  Political  events,  which  had  hitherto  favored  these 
wild  chimeras,  now  conspired  to  hasten  and  aggravate  the  impending 
downfall.  It  was  a  scene  of  woe  and  desolation. 

Temporary  relief  came  in  the  shape  of  Michigan  money — but  like 
all  empty  expedients,  it  in  the  end,  aggravated  the  disease  it  pretended 
to  cure — it  seemed  a  sovereign  panacea,  but  it  proved  a  quack  specific. 

Let  us  turn  from  this  sickening  spectacle  of  disaster  and  ruin.  Mad 
as  her  citizens  had  been,  Chicago  was  Chicago  still.  Artificial  enter- 
prises had  failed,  but  nature  was  still  the  same. 

There  stood  Chicago  "in  her  pride  of  place,"  unmoved  and  immov- 
able. Though  mourning  and  desolate  she  could  still  sustain  an  active 
population.  Need  I  add  that  she  has  done  it? 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1836,  the  first  ground  was  broken  on  the  canal. 
A  steamboat  and  two  schooners  conveyed  a  numerous  company  to 
Canal  Port  where  the  ceremony  was  performed.  Thus  far  this  noble 
work  has  made  good  progress;  with  its  great  resources  there  is  reason  to 
hope,  notwithstanding  the  narrow  spirit  of  some  of  our  legislators,  that 
it  will  be  urged  to  a  speedy  completion.  Then  shall  we  see  Chicago  take 


THE  ANNALS  OF  CHICAGO  IN  1840  197 

her  stand  among  the  proudest  cities  of  the  nation,  and  by  the  blessing 
of  God,  no  obstacle  can  impede  her  onward  march  to  greatness.* 

This  is  not  a  mere  outpouring  of  enthusiasm.  The  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal  when  completed  will  render  Chicago  a  place  of  vast 
importance.  I  will  briefly  advert  to  a  few  of  the  advantages  which  will 
be  derived  from  that  great  work. 

It  is  well  known  that  no  dependence  can  be  placed  on  the  Ohio 
River  as  a  channel  of  transportation,  while  the  Lakes  afford  a  certain 
means  of  conveyance.  All  the  forwarding  business  for  towns  lying  on 
the  Illinois  River,  and  for  the  interior  of  Illinois  must  be  done 
through  Chicago.  Indeed  this  is  already  the  case  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. But  the  canal  will  also  open  to  us  the  forwarding  business  to  St. 
Louis  and  all  the  great  towns  which  are  springing  up  on  the  upper 
Mississippi  and  its  branches.  Thus  will  Chicago  be  the  grand  avenue 
for  the  transportation  of  merchandise  bound  westward. 

Again,  the  Chicago  market  can  furnish  an  almost  inexhaustible 
supply  of  pine  lumber  from  the  forests  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  The 
lumber  trade  is  already  very  considerable,  and  the  supply  can  be  increased 
in  proportion  to  the  demand.  The  towns  on  the  upper  Mississippi  and 
its  branches,  are  chiefly  supplied  with  lumber  brought  from  the  Alle- 
gheny River,  a  distance  of  upwards  of  1200  miles.  The  price  of  pine 
lumber  at  St.  Louis,  I  am  informed,  generally  averages  $40,  while  at 
Chicago  the  average  price  is  about  $14  per  thousand.  Our  lumber  trade 
must  consequently  be  immense. 

But  the  produce  of  the  soil,  will  be  the  great  and  unfailing  source 
of  prosperity  to  Chicago.  An  immense  region  of  country,  unsurpassed 
in  fertility,  will  send  its  produce  to  this  market.  The  lines  of  railroad 
connecting  with  the  canal,  will  bring  into  cultivation  large  tracts  of 
country  now  considered  valueless.  As  a  stock  country  Illinois  is  unsur- 
passed; for  her  vast  prairies  are  capable  of  sustaining  innumerable  herds 
of  cattle.  It  is  doing  no  violence  to  truth  to  say,  that  Chicago  will  at  no 
distant  day,  be  the  great  produce  mart  of  the  western  world.  Wheat, 
corn,  beef,  pork,  butter,  cheese,  &c.  will  come  into  the  place  in  great 
abundance.  The  mines  of  northern  Illinois,  Missouri,  and  Wisconsin 
will  pour  a  portion  of  their  treasures  into  the  lap  of  Chicago.  An 
immense  traffic  will  grow  out  of  the  interchange  of  commodities,  and  no 
limit  can  be  assigned  to  the  prosperity  of  the  place.  Emigration  will 
open  new  fields  of  enterprise  "beyond  the  swelling  flood"  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  influence  of  Chicago  will  extend  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  *** 1 


198  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Mountains.  We  may  form  some  idea  of  the  future  growth  of  the  country 
by  looking  into  the  past.  Ten  years  ago  there  was  scarcely  a  farm  in 
Illinois  to  the  north  of  Chicago.  This  congressional  district  then  con- 
tained only  54,213  inhabitants;  it  now  contains  a  population  of  more 
than  200,000  souls,  and  numbers  over  40,000  voters.  Until  the  last 
year  we  depended  in  a  great  measure  on  the  East  for  supplies  of  pro- 
visions. Our  pork,  flour,  butter,  &c.  were  brought  from  the  states  of 
New  York  and  Ohio.  Last  year  we  exported  some  pork,  and  a  small 
quantity  of  wheat.  When  navigation  opens  in  the  spring  of  1840  we 
shall  send  forward  a  large  amount  of  produce.  Every  year  will  increase 
the  value  of  our  exports,  and  never  again  will  the  East  supply  us  with 
provisions. 

Chicago  is  also  destined  to  be  a  great  thoroughfare.  Already  have 
our  splendid  steamboats  attracted  travelers  from  all  the  large  towns  on 
the  Mississippi,  including  New  Orleans,  and  every  year  brings  with  it 
an  increasing  throng. 

The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  connecting  the  waters  of  Lake 
Michigan  with  the  Illinois  River,  and  completing  an  inland  communica- 
tion by  water  between  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is 
now  nearly  half  completed.  According  to  the  last  report  of  the  com- 
missioners, it  can  be  finished  in  1843  if  the  necessary  means  are  procured. 
The  canal  will  be  almost  100  miles  in  length,  60  feet  wide  at  surface,  and 
6  feet  deep.  It  will  be  fed  with  the  pure  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  and 
for  that  reason  will  be  very  expensive.  About  $2,750,000  have  already 
been  expended  upon  the  work,  and  it  will  require  upwards  of  $5,000,000 
to  complete  it.  Of  the  amount  already  expended,  about  $500,000  have 
been  derived  from  the  resources  of  the  canal.  These  resources  consist 
of  farming  lands,  town  lots,  wood,  timber,  &c.  The  Governor  in  his 
last  message  estimates  the  total  cost  of  the  canal  at  $8,118,616.38 — 
the  amount  of  canal  property  at  $7,034,102.35,  leaving  a  balance  of 
$1,084,513.63  against  the  canal,  the  greater  part  of  which,  he  thinks  can 
be  realized  from  contingent  resources.  The  amount  of  canal  lands  not 
sold  is  270,182  acres  which  the  Governor  estimates  at  $5,500,000  being 
sufficient  to  complete  the  work.  It  should  be  remembered  that  these 
lands  include  several  valuable  town  sites,  among  which  are  Chicago, 
Lockport,  Joliet,  Ottawa,  and  La  Salle,  the  terminating  point.  The 
lands  lie  in  alternate  sections  of  a  mile  square,  and  extend  back  five  miles 
on  each  side  of  the  entire  line  of  the  canal.  Near  La  Salle  are  large 
beds  of  coal  which  may  be  classed  among  the  resources  of  the  canal. 

The  Chicago  River  is  to  be  used  for  the  purposes  of  a  canal  for  a 


THE  ANNALS  OF  CHICAGO  IN  1840  199 

distance  of  about  4  miles.  Then  for  about  18  miles  the  cutting  is  very 
deep,  averaging  about  20  feet,  and  that  through  a  clay  stratum  of  the 
heaviest  character.  Rock  excavations  follow,  and  doubtless  the  quarries 
laid  open  by  the  canal,  will  hereafter  supply  Chicago  with  an  indefinite 
quantity  of  good  building  materials.  From  Chicago  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Kankakee,  a  distance  of  50  miles,  the  whole  work  is  under  contract. 
About  25  miles  of  comparatively  light  work,  are  not  as  yet  let  out,  but 
the  remaining  portion  is  under  contract,  and  the  work  far  advanced. 

The  revenue  which  will  be  derived  from  tolls,  water  privileges,  coal, 
&c.  cannot  fail  to  be  very  great. 


Part  IV 
A  Metropolis  Develops 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 
PART  IV 


third  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  a  period 
of  revolution,  political  and  social,  in  Europe  and 
America  alike,  witnessed  the  birth  of  modern 
Chicago.  Ushered  into  being  with  all  the  accom- 
paniments of  a  boom,  a  process  which  was  destined 
to  be  many  times  repeated  as  the  frontier  of  civi- 
lization moved  westward  across  the  continent,  the 
youthful  city  soon  experienced  the  severe  reaction 
that  keen  observers  like  Miss  Martineau  had  foretold.  But  the  sub- 
stantial elements  of  potential  prosperity  were  in  no  wise  affected  by  the 
depression  that  accompanied  the  panic  of  1837,  a  thing  which  thoughtful 
citizens  of  the  nascent  metropolis,  however  great  their  previous  infatua- 
tion had  been,  were  quick  to  see.  The  basis  of  their  convictions  was 
well  set  forth  by  Balestier,  whose  argument  concludes  the  preceding 
chapter.  With  the  settlement  of  the  adjoining  region  Chicago  was 
bound  to  grow.  Its  prosperity  spelled  inevitable  prosperity  for  her. 
Whatever  the  outlook  of  the  immediate  present,  a  great  future  was  in 
store  for  Chicago,  and  of  this  fact  shrewd  observers  were  fully  aware. 

In  the  present  chapter  we  have  gathered  a  number  of  narratives 
describing  Chicago  in  different  stages  of  her  development  from  the 
sprawling  village  of  1840,  hopefully  facing  her  future,  to  the  industrial 
and  metropolitan  center  of  1916,  with  greater  achievements  to  her 
credit  than  any  the  wildest  enthusiast  two  generations  ago  would  have 
dared  to  dream  of,  and  with  a  still  more  glorious  future  in  prospect. 
Covering  so  long  a  period  of  time  the  treatment  is  necessarily  less 
intensive  than  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  first  narrative  presents 
the  Chicago  of  1850  as  seen  by  Fredrika  Bremer,  the  well-known 
Swedish  novelist.  Miss  Bremer  spent  two  years  in  an  extensive  tour  of 
the  United  States,  the  literary  fruit  of  which  was  a  thoughtful  and  enter- 
taining two-volume  narrative  entitled  The  Homes  of  the  New  World. 


204  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Although  fond  of  life  and  society  Miss  Bremer  possessed  the  soul  of  a 
reformer,  being  greatly  interested  in  religious,  social,  and  philanthropic 
subjects.  We  follow  her  on  her  journey  from  Buffalo  westward,  and 
through  her  stay  at  Chicago. 

The  two  selections  that  follow  were  both  published  anonymously. 
The  first  contains  the  observations  of  a  hard-headed  Canadian  business 
man  during  a  visit  to  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1857. 
Published  first  as  a  series  of  letters  in  a  Toronto  newspaper,  they  appeared 
the  following  year  as  a  tiny  volume  entitled  Impressions  of  the  West 
and  South.  The  opening  letter  is  dated  at  Chicago,  November  13,  1857. 
Naturally  the  author  writes  from  the  viewpoint  of  a  business  man 
whose  primary  interest  is  the  upbuilding  of  the  trade  and  commerce  of 
his  own  country.  That  he  was  a  shrewd  and  not  unkindly  observer  is 
sufficiently  evident  from  his  letters.  To  the  preface  of  the  volume  are 
subscribed  the  initials  "  W.  K.,"  supposed  to  stand  for  William  Kingsford. 

Widely  different  in  character  are  the  observations  of  our  next 
author,  extracted  from  an  article  "Illinois  in  Spring-time,"  appearing 
in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  September,  1858.  More  popular  in  character 
than  Kingsford's  description,  the  present  narrative  yet  displays  a  certain 
seriousness  which  relieves  it  from  mere  superficiality.  One  expects  to 
find  the  usual  comment  upon  the  now-proverbial  hurry  and  bustle  of 
Chicago  street  life,  but  it  is  matter  for  genuine  surprise  that  the  visitor 
found  "not  one  lady"  there.  Whatever  the  explanation  of  this  anomaly, 
we  are  gratified  to  note  that  the  evidence  was  visible  six  decades  ago, 
even  as  today,  that  Chicago  was  possessed  of  loyal  citizens  toiling 
quietly  and  modestly  for  the  common  weal. 

Almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  now  passes.  Civil  war  and  scourge 
of  fire  alike  have  failed  to  stay  the  city's  progress.  In  the  summer  of 
1 88 1  there  came  for  a  second  visit  to  America  and  Chicago  an  observer 
famous  in  his  generation.  William  H.  Russell  was  the  virtual  creator 
of  the  office  of  modern  special  newspaper  correspondent.  In  the  Crimean 
War  his  remorseless  exposure  of  the  English  governmental  and  military 
mismanagement  and  blundering  largely  inspired  the  immortal  work  of 
Florence  Nightingale,  and  brought  about  the  overthrow  of  the  Aberdeen 
ministry.  Sent  to  report  the  American  Civil  War  for  the  pro-Southern 
London  Times,  Russell  conceived  an  intense  dislike  for  the  institution 
of  negro  slavery,  while  the  South  conceived  a  similar  feeling  for  the 
Times  correspondent.  His  faithful  report  of  the  Federal  rout  at  Bull 
Run,  brought  upon  Russell  similar  unpopularity  in  the  North,  so  intense 
a  feeling  against  him  developing  that  he  conceived  his  life  to  be  threat- 
ened. Now,  in  1 88 1,  he  returned  to  the  United  States,  in  company  of 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  205 

the  Duke  of  Sutherland's  party,  as  to  a  new  world.     Something  of  the 
impression  made  upon  the  veteran  correspondent  may  be  seen  in  the 
narrative  we  print,  taken  from  his  volume  entitled  Hesperothen.     Notes 
from  a  Rambler  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

To  the  closing  decade  of  the  century  belong  the  two  following 
selections  taken,  the  one  from  Paul  Bourget's  Outre-Mer,  the  other  from 
William  Archer's  America  Today.  The  former  presents  the  impressions 
gained  of  Chicago  in  the  World's  Fair  year  by  the  distinguished  French 
critic  and  novelist.  A  brilliant  and  sympathetic  observer  of  things 
American,  even  into  a  description  of  his  visit  to  the  stockyards  Bourget 
succeeds  in  injecting  a  certain  measure  of  literary  charm.  The  con- 
temporary English  critic,  visiting  Chicago  in  1899,  is  quite  as  sympathetic 
and  philosophical  as  Bourget,  if  perhaps  a  trifle  less  brilliant. 

The  three  selections  from  the  early  years  of  the  twentieth  century, 
with  which  the  volume  concludes,  are  all  from  the  pens  of  English  visitors 
of  contemporary  fame  in  the  world  of  letters.  To  the  present  generation 
of  American  readers  no  introduction  either  to  H.  G.  Wells  or  Arnold 
Bennett  is  required.  From  the  former's  Future  in  America,  published 
in  1906,  is  taken  his  interpretative  description  of  Chicago;  from  Bennett's 
Your  United  States,  published  six  years  later,  is  derived  the  narrative  of 
the  latter's  Chicago  impressions.  About  Canon  Hannay  of  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  who  writes  under  the  pen  name  of  "George  A.  Birmingham," 
the  average  American  reader  is  probably  less  well  informed.  We  select 
from  his  volume  From  Dublin  to  Chicago,  published  in  1914,  the  chapter 
entitled  "Advance,  Chicago,"  as  our  final  offering  in  the  way  of  an  inter- 
pretative analysis  of  the  city  to  which  the  present  volume  is  devoted. 

A  word  of  comment  in  closing  upon  the  significance  of  these  later 
selections,  seems  in  order.  It  was  long  the  bitter  plaint  of  America — 
justified,  largely,  too,  by  the  facts,  that  visitors  from  the  motherland 
came  only  to  taunt  the  daughter  and  jeer  at  her  achievements.  Happily 
a  better  era  has  come  to  pass.  The  bond  of  sympathy  between  the  two 
countries,  latent  for  a  century,  has  been  renewed.  However  well  or 
ill  they  succeed,  our  English  visitors  come  today  in  sympathetic  mood 
prepared  to  try  to  understand  us.  To  this  spirit  the  closing  selections 
of  our  volume  bear  ample  witness. 


FREDRIKA  BREMER'S  VISIT,  1850 

Chicago,  Illinois,  Sept.  i 

JERE,  upon  the  southwestern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  sits 
your  sister,  my  little  Agatha,  not,  however,  upon  the  sandy 
shore,  but  in  a  pretty  villa,  built  in  the  Italian  style,  with 
Corinthian  pillars,  surrounded  by  beautiful  trees  and  flowers. 

It  was  in  the  market  of  Buffalo,  amid  horses  and  carriages,  and 
throngs  of  people  buying  and  selling,  passing  hither  and  thither,  amid 
chests  and  all  sorts  of  baggage,  amid  crowds  and  bustle,  that  I  parted 
from  my  young  friends,  who  had  become  dear  to  me  almost  as  brother 
and  sister.  There  was  neither  time  nor  space  to  say  many  words  in, 
the  smoking  iron-horse  which  was  to  speed  them  away  along  the  iron- 
road  stood  ready;  iron-road,  iron-horse,  iron-necessity,  all  were  there; 
the  warm  heart  had  neither  time  nor  language;  thus  we  kissed  in  silence 
from  our  inmost  hearts,  and  parted — perhaps  forever!  The  Lowells 
intend  to  make  a  journey  to  Italy  next  year.  I  saw  them  no  longer, 
and  was  conducted  out  of  the  throng  in  the  market  to  an  hotel  by  a 
respectable  old  gentleman,  Judge  B.,  under  whose  care  I  am  to  continue 
my  journey.  He  had  presented  himself  to  me  at  Niagara  with  a  letter 
of  introduction  from  Mr.  E. 

This  excellent,  vigorous  gentleman,  yet  quite  youthful  in  spirit,  one 
of  the  oldest  pioneers  of  the  West,  and  who  had  taken  part  in  the  founding 
or  laying  out  of  many  of  its  most  flourishing  cities,  as  Rochester,  Lock- 
port,  and  many  others,  was  quite  at  home  in  all  the  districts  through 
which  we  were  to  travel,  as  far  even  as  Lake  Michigan,  and  for  that 
reason,  and  also  because  he  was  evidently  a  good  and  cordial  man,  I 
was  well  satisfied  to  have  him  for  my  companion. 

At  the  hotel  at  Buffalo  I  was  again  tormented  by  some  new  acquain- 
tance with  the  old,  tiresome  questions,  "How  do  you  like  America?" 
"How  do  you  like  the  States?"  "Does  Buffalo  look  according  to  your 
expectations?"  To  which  latter  question  I  replied  that  I  had  not 
expected  any  thing  from  Buffalo;  but  yet,  that  I  must  say  it  struck 
me  as  being  one  of  the  least  excellent  cities  which  I  had  seen  in  America. 
Business!  business!  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  principal  life  and  character 
there.  But  the  truth  is,  that  I  did  not  see  much  of  Buffalo. 


2o8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Toward  evening  I  went  on  board  "The  Ocean,"  a  magnificent 
three-decked  steamboat,  which  conveyed  me  across  Lake  Erie,  fre- 
quently a  very  stormy  and  dangerous  lake;  its  billows,  however,  now 
resembled  naiads  sporting  in  the  sunshine. 

"Erie,"  says  M.  Bouchette,  a  French  writer,  describing  this  part  of 
the  country,  "may  be  regarded  as  the  great  central  reservoir  from 
which  canals  extend  on  all  sides,  so  that  vessels  from  this  point  may  go 
to  every  part  of  the  country  inland,  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  on  the  east 
and  north  to  the  countries  and  the  sea  of  the  south,  and  bring  together 
the  productions  of  every  land  and  climate."  Emigrants  of  all  nations 
cross  Lake  Erie  on  their  way  to  the  colonies  west  of  those  great  inland 
seas.  But  to  too  many  of  them  has  Erie  proved  a  grave.  Not  long 
since  a  vessel  of  emigrants,  mostly  Germans,  was  destroyed  by  fire  on 
Lake  Erie,  and  hundreds  of  these  poor  people  found  a  grave  in  its  waters. 
Among  those  who  were  taken  up  were  seven  or  eight  couples,  locked  in 
each  other's  arms.  Death  could  not  divide  them.  Love  is  stronger 
than  death.  The  helmsman  stood  at  the  helm  steering  the  vessel  toward 
land  till  the  flames  burned  his  hands.  The  negligence  of  the  captain 
is  said  to  have  been  the  cause  of  this  misfortune.  He  too  perished. 
Only  between  thirty  and  forty  passengers  were  saved. 

For  me,  however,  the  sail  across  Lake  Erie  was  like  a  sunbright 
festival,  in  that  magnificent  steamer  where  even  a  piano  was  heard  in 
the  crowded  saloon,  and  where  a  polite  and  most  agreeable  captain 
took  charge  of  me  in  the  kindest  manner.  My  good  old  pioneer  related 
to  me  various  incidents  of  his  life,  his  religious  conversion,  his  first  love 
and  his  last,  which  was  quite  recent;  the  old  gentleman  declaring  himself 
to  be  half  in  love  with  "that  Yankee  woman,  Mrs.  L.";  and  I  do  not 
wonder  at  it.  It  convinced  me  that  he  had  good  taste.  He  declared 
himself  to  be  "first  and  foremost  a  great  ladies'  man." 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon — that  is  to  say,  of  the  day  after 
we  went  on  board,  we  reached  Detroit,  a  city  first  founded  by  the  French 
upon  that  narrow  strait  between  the  Lakes  Erie  and  St.  Clair,  which 
separates  Michigan  from  Canada.  The  shores,  as  seen  from  the  vessel, 
appeared  to  be  laid  out  in  small  farms  consisting  of  regular  allotments, 
surrounded  by  plantations.  The  land  seemed  to  me  low  but  fertile, 
undulating  hill  and  valley.  Detroit  is,  like  Buffalo,  a  city  where  business 
life  preponderates,  yet  still  it  looked  to  me  pleasanter  and  more  friendly 
than  Buffalo.  I  saw  at  the  hotel  some  tiresome  catechisers,  and  also 
some  very  agreeable  people,  people  whom  one  could  talk  well  and  frankly 
with,  and  whom  one  could  like  in  all  respects.  Among  these  I  remember, 
in  particular,  the  Episcopal  bishop  of  Michigan,  a  frank,  excellent,  and 


FREDRIKA  BREMER'S  VISIT  209 

intellectual  man;  and  a  mother  and  her  daughters.  I  was  able  to 
exchange  a  few  cordial  words  with  them,  words  out  of  the  earnest  depths 
of  life,  and  such  always  do  me  good.  The  people  of  Detroit  were,  for 
the  rest,  pleased  with  their  city  and  their  way  of  life  there,  pleased  with 
themselves,  and  with  each  other.  And  this  seems  to  me  to  be  the  case  in 
most  of  the  places  that  I  have  been  to  here  in  the  West. 

The  following  evening  we  were  at  Anne  Arbor,  a  pretty  little  rural 
city.  Here  also  I  received  visitors,  and  was  examined  as  usual.  My 
good  old  pioneer  did  not  approve  of  traveling  incognito,  but  insisted 
upon  it  that  people  should  be  known  by  people,  and  could  not  compre- 
hend how  any  one  could  be  tired,  and  need  a  cessation  of  introductions 
and  questions.  In  Anne  Arbor,  also,  the  people  were  much  pleased 
with  themselves,  their  city,  its  situation,  and  way  of  life.  The  city 
derived  its  name  from  the  circumstance  that  when  the  first  settlers 
came  to  the  place  they  consisted  principally  of  one  family,  and  while 
the  woods  were  felled  and  the  land  plowed,  the  laborers  had  no  other 
dwelling  than  a  tent-like  shed  of  boughs  and  canvas,  where  the  mother 
of  the  family,  "Anne,"  prepared  the  food,  and  cared  for  the  comfort  of 
all.  That  was  the  domestic  hearth;  that  was  the  calm  haven  where  all 
the  laborers  found  rest  and  refreshment  under  the  protection  of  Mother 
Anne.  Hence  they  called  the  tent  Anne's  Arbor  or  Bower,  and  the 
city,  which  by  degrees  sprung  up  around  it,  retained  the  name.  And 
with  its  neat  houses  and  gardens  upon  the  green  hills  and  slopes  the 
little  city  looked,  indeed,  like  a  peaceful  retreat  from  the  unquiet  of 
the  world. 

We  remained  over  night  at  Anne  Arbor.  The  following  morning 
we  set  off  by  railroad  and  traveled  directly  across  the  State  of  Michigan. 
Through  the  whole  distance  I  saw  small  farms,  with  their  well  built 
houses,  surrounded  by  well  cultivated  land;  fields  of  wheat  and  maize, 
and  orchards  full  of  apple  and  peach  trees.  In  the  wilder  districts  the 
fields  were  brilliant  with  some  beautiful  kind  of  violet  and  blue  flowers, 
which  the  rapidity  of  our  journey  prevented  me  from  examining  more 
closely,  and  with  tall  sunflowers,  the  heads  of  which  were  as  large  as 
young  trees.  It  was  splendid  and  beautiful.  My  old  pioneer  told  me 
that  he  never  had  seen  anywhere  such  an  affluence  of  magnificent 
flowers  as  in  Michigan,  especially  in  the  olden  times  before  the  wilderness 
was  broken  up  into  fields.  Michigan  is  one  of  the  youngest  states  of 
the  Union,  but  has  a  rich  soil,  particularly  calculated  for  the  growth  of 
wheat,  and  is  greatly  on  the  increase.  The  legislation  is  of  the  most 
liberal  description,  and  it  has  abolished  capital  punishment  in  its  penal 
code.  Nevertheless,  I  heard  of  crime  having  been  committed  in  this 


2io  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

state  which  deserved  death,  or  at  least  imprisonment  for  life,  if  any  crime 
does  deserve  it.  A  young  man  of  a  respectable  family  in  Detroit, 
during  a  hunt,  had  shot  clandestinely  and  repeatedly  at  another  young 
man,  his  best  friend,  merely  to  rob  him  of  his  pocket  book.  He  had 
been  condemned  for  an  attempt  to  murder,  which  he  acknowledged, 
only  to  twenty  years'  imprisonment.  And  in  prison  he  was  visited 
by  young  ladies,  who  went  to  teach  him  French  and  to  play  on  the  guitar! 
One  of  these  traveled  with  me  on  the  railroad.  She  spoke  of  the  young 
prisoner's  "agreeable  demeanor!"  There  is  a  leniency  toward  crime 
and  the  criminal  which  is  disgusting,  and  which  proves  a  laxity  of  moral 
feeling. 

The  weather  was  glorious  the  whole  day.  The  sun  preceded  us 
westward.  We  steered  our  course  directly  toward  the  sun;  and  the 
nearer  it  sank  toward  the  earth,  more  brightly  glowed  the  evening  sky 
as  with  the  most  transcendent  gold.  The  country,  through  the  whole 
extent,  was  lowland,  and  monotonous.  Here  and  there  wound  along  a 
lovely  little  wooded  stream.  Here  and  there  in  the  woods  were  small 
frame  houses,  and  beside  one  and  another  of  them  wooden  sheds,  upon 
which  a  board  was  fastened,  whereon  might  be  read  in  white  letters, 
half  a  yard  high,  the  word  "Grocery."  The  cultivated  districts  were 
in  all  cases  divided  regularly,  scattered  over  with  farmhouses  resembling 
those  of  our  better  class  of  peasant  farmers.  The  settlers  in  the  West 
purchase  allotments  of  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  or  two 
hundred  acres,  seldom  less  and  seldom  more.  The  land  costs,  in  the 
first  instance,  what  is  called  "government  price,"  one  dollar  and  a  quarter 
per  acre;  and  will,  if  well  cultivated,  produce  abundant  harvests  within 
a  few  years.*  The  farmers  here  work  hard,  live  frugally,  but  well,  and 
bring  up  strong,  able  families.  The  children,  however,  seldom  follow 
the  occupation  of  their  fathers.  They  are  sent  to  schools,  and  after  that 
endeavor  to  raise  themselves  by  political  or  public  life.  These  small 
farms  are  the  nurseries  from  which  the  northwest  states  obtain  their 
best  officials  and  teachers,  both  male  and  female.  A  vigorous,  pious, 
laborious  race  grows  up  here.  I  received  much  enlightenment  on  this 
subject  from  my  good  old  pioneer,  who,  with  his  piety,  his  restless  activ- 
ity, his  humanity,  his  great  information,  and  his  youthfully  warm  heart, 
even  in  advancing  years,  was  a  good  type  of  the  first  cultivators  of  the 
wilderness  in  this  country.  He  parted  from  me  on  the  journey  in  order 
to  reach  his  home  in  the  little  city  of  Niles. 

In  company  with  an  agreeable  gentleman,  Mr.  H.,  and  his  agreeable 
sister-in-law,  I  went  on  board  the  steamer  which  crosses  Lake  Michigan. 
The  sun  had  now  sunk;  but  the  evening  sky  glowed  with  the  brightest 


FREDRIKA  BREMER'S  VISIT  211 

crimson  above  the  sea-like  lake.  We  departed  amid  its  splendor  and  in 
the  light  of  the  new  moon.  The  water  was  calm  as  a  mirror. 

On  the  morning  of  the  I3th  of  September,  I  saw  the  sun  shine  over 
Chicago.  I  expected  to  have  been  met  at  Chicago  by  some  friends,  who 
were  to  take  me  to  their  house.  But  none  came;  and  on  inquiring,  I 
learned  that  they  were  not  now  there.  Nor  was  this  to  be  wondered  at, 
as  I  was  two  months  after  the  appointed  time.  I  now,  therefore,  found 
myself  quite  alone  in  that  great  unknown  West.  And  two  little  mis- 
adventures occurring  just  now  with  my  luggage  made  it  still  less  agree- 
able. But  precisely  at  the  moment  when  I  stood  quite  alone  on  the 
deck — for  my  kind  new  acquaintance  had  left  the  steamer  somewhat 
earlier — my  gladness  returned  to  me,  and  I  felt  that  I  was  not  alone; 
I  felt  vigorous,  both  body  and  mind.  The  sun  was  there  too;  and  such 
a  heartfelt  rejoicing  filled  my  whole  being,  in  its  Lord  and  in  my  Father, 
and  the  Father  of  all,  that  I  esteemed  myself  fortunate  that  I  could 
shut  myself  up  in  a  little  solitary  room  at  an  hotel  in  the  city,  and  thus 
be  still  more  alone  with  my  joy. 

But  my  solitude  was  not  of  long  continuance.  Handsome,  kind 
people  gathered  round  me,  offered  me  house,  and  home,  and  friendship, 
and  every  good  thing,  and  all  in  Chicago  became  sunshine  to  me. 

In  the  evening  I  found  myself  in  that  pretty  villa,  where  I  am  now 
writing  to  you,  and  in  the  beautiful  night  a  serenade  was  given  in  the 
moonlight  gardens,  in  which  was  heard  the  familiar 

Einsam  bin  ich  nicht  allein. 

It  was  a  salutation  from  the  Germans  of  the  city. 

September  i?th.     Prairies!    A  sight  which   I   shall   never   forget. 

Chicago  is  situated  on  the  edge  of  the  prairie-land.  The  whole 
State  of  Illinois  is  one  vast  rolling  prairie  (that  is  to  say,  a  plain  of  low, 
wave-like  hills);  but  the  prairie  proper  does  not  commence  until  about 
eighteen  miles  from  the  city.  My  new  friends  wished  me  to  pass  a  day 
of  prairie-life.  We  drove  out  early  in  the  morning,  three  families  in 
four  carriages.  Our  pioneer,  a  dark,  handsome  hunter,  drove  first  with 
his  dogs,  and  shot,  when  we  halted  by  the  way,  now  and  then,  a  prairie 
hen  (grouse)  on  the  wing.  The  day  was  glorious;  the  sky  of  the  brightest 
blue,  the  sun  of  the  purest  gold,  and  the  air  full  of  vitality,  but  calm; 
and  there,  in  that  brilliant  light,  stretched  itself  far,  far  out  into  the 
infinite,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  discern,  an  ocean-like  extent,  the  waves 
of  which  were  sunflowers,  asters,  and  gentians.  The  plain  was  splendid 
with  them,  especially  with  the  sunflowers,  which  were  frequently  four 
yards  high,  and  stood  far  above  the  head  of  our  tallest  gentleman. 


2ia  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

We  ate  our  dinner  in  a  little  wood,  which  lay  like  a  green  shrub 
upon  that  treeless,  flowery  plain.  It  was  an  elevation,  and  from  this 
point  the  prairie  stretched  onward  its  softly  waving  extent  to  the  horizon. 
Here  and  there,  amid  this  vast  stretch,  arose  small  log  houses,  which 
resembled  little  birds'  nests  floating  upon  the  ocean.  Here  and  there, 
also,  were  people  making  hay;  it  looked  like  some  child's  attempt,  like 
child's  play.  The  sun-bright  soil  remained  here  still  in  its  primeval 
greatness  and  magnificence,  unchecked  by  human  hands,  covered  with 
its  flowers,  protected  and  watched  alone  by  the  eye  of  the  sun.  And  the 
bright  sunflowers  nodded  and  beckoned  in  the  wind,  as  if  inviting 
millions  of  beings  to  the  festival  set  out  on  the  rich  table  of  the  earth. 
To  me  it  was  a  festival  of  light.  It  was  a  really  great  and  glorious 
sight;  to  my  feeling  less  common  and  grander  even  than  Niagara  itself. 

The  dark  hunter,  a  man  of  few  words  but  evidently  of  strong 
feelings,  leaned  upon  his  gun  and  said  softly,  "Here  I  often  stand  for 
hours  and  gaze  on  creation!" 

And  well  he  might.  That  sight  resembles  an  ecstasy  in  the  life 
of  nature.  It  was  bathed  in  light;  it  reposed  blissfully  in  the  bosom  of 
light.  The  sunflowers  sang  praises  to  the  sun. 

I  wandered  about  in  the  wood  and  gathered  flowers.  The  asters 
grew  above  my  head.  Nearly  all  the  flowers  which  now  cover  the 
prairies  are  of  the  class  Syngenesia,  and  of  these  the  Solidago  and 
Helianthus  predominate.  The  prairies  are  covered  each  different 
month  with  a  different  class  of  flowers;  in  spring  white,  then  blue,  then 
purple,  and  now  mostly  of  a  golden  yellow. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  we  visited  one  of  the  log  houses  on  the 
plain.  A  nice  old  woman  was  at  home.  The  men  were  out  getting  in 
the  hay.  The  house  was  one  year  old,  and  tolerably  open  to  the  weather, 
but  clean  and  orderly  within,  as  are  houses  generally  in  which  live 
American  women.  I  asked  the  good  woman  how  the  solitude  of  this 
great  prairie  agreed  with  her.  She  was  tired  of  it,  "it  was  so  monot- 
onous," she  said.  Yes,  yes,  there  is  a  difference  between  seeing  this 
sight  of  heaven  and  earth  for  one  day  and  for  a  whole  year!  Neverthe- 
less, I  would  try  it  for  a  year. 

We  did  not  see  a  cloud  during  the  whole  of  this  day,  nor  yet  per- 
ceive a  breath  of  air;  yet  still  the  atmosphere  was  as  fresh  as  it  was 
delicious.  The  Indian  summer  will  soon  begin.  The  whole  of  that  little 
prairie  festival  was  cloudless,  excepting  that  the  hunter's  gun  went  off 
and  shot  one  of  our  horses  in  the  ear,  and  that  a  carriage  broke  down; 
but  it  was  near  the  end  of  the  journey  and  was  taken  all  in  good  part, 
and  thus  was  of  no  consequence. 


FREDRIKA  BREMER'S  VISIT  213 

Chicago,  September  27th. 

I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  Indians  from  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
K.  [Kinzie],  in  whose  extremely  agreeable  family  I  have  now  my  home. 
Mr.  K.  is  the  government  agent  in  all  transactions  with  the  Indian 
tribes  in  these  northwestern  states,  and  he  and  his  family  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  in  the  wilderness  there.  Mrs.  K.,  who  writes  with 
facility  and  extremely  well,  has  preserved  in  manuscript  many  incidents 
in  the  lives  of  the  first  colonists,  and  of  their  contests  with  the  Indians, 
and  among  these  many  which  occurred  in  her  own  family.  The  reading 
of  these  narratives  is  one  of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  the  evenings;  some 
are  interesting  in  a  high  degree;  some  are  full  of  cruel  and  horrible  scenes, 
others  also  touchingly  beautiful,  and  others,  again,  very  comic. 

There  is  material  for  the  most  beautiful  drama  in  the  history  of 
the  captivity  of  Mrs.  K.'s  mother  and  her  free  restoration.  I  know 
nothing  more  dramatic  than  the  first  terrible  scene  of  the  carrying  off 
of  the  little  girl;  then  the  attachment  of  the  Indian  chief  to  the  child, 
the  affection  which  grew  up  in  his  heart  for  her  as  she  grew  up  in  his 
tent,  and  was  called  by  the  savage  tribe  "the  White  Lily";  the  episode 
of  the  attempt  to  murder  her  by  the  jealous  wife  of  the  chief;  and,  lastly, 
the  moment  when  the  chief,  after  having  for  several  years  rejected  all 
offers  of  negotiation  and  gifts,  both  on  the  part  of  the  parents  and  the 
government,  for  the  restoration  of  the  child,  yielded  at  length  to  prayers, 
and  consented  to  a  meeting  of  the  mother  and  daughter,  but  on  the 
express  condition  that  she  should  not  seek  to  retain  her;  and  then, 
when  arrived  at  the  appointed  place  of  meeting,  with  all  his  warriors 
in  their  complete  array,  he  rode  alone — spite  of  all  their  remonstrances — 
across  the  little  brook  which  separated  the  camp  of  the  whites  from 
that  of  the  Indians,  and  saw  the  young  girl  and  her  mother  throw  them- 
selves into  each  other's  arms  with  tears  of  joy,  he  stood  overpowered 
by  the  sight  and  exclaimed,  "The  mother  must  have  her  child!"  turned 
his  horse,  recrossed  the  brook,  and  rejoined  his  own  people  without  a 
glance  at  the  darling  of  his  heart,  "  the  White  Lily,"  who  now,  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  her  age,  returned  to  her  family!  What  an  excellent 
subject  for  dramatic  treatment!  I  hope  that  Mrs.  K.  will  some  day 
publish  this  beautiful  narrative,  together  with  several  others  which  I 
heard  during  these  evenings.1 

The  massacre  of  Chicago  belongs  to  the  unpleasing  portion  of  the 
chronicle,  and  Chicago  still  retains  fresh  traces  of  this  event.  Yet 
even  that  is  ennobled  by  beautiful  human  actions. 

1  They  were  published  six  years  later  as  the  book,  Wau  Bun,  the  "Early  Day"  in  the 
Northwest. 


214  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

The  wooing  of  my  noble  and  gentlemanly  host  by  the  Indian  chief 
Fourlegs  for  his  daughter,  and  the  arrival  of  the  fat  Miss  Fourlegs  on 
her  buffalo  hides  in  the  city,  where  she  met  with  a  refusal,  belong  to 
the  comic  portion  of  the  chronicle,  and  very  much  amused  me.  For 
the  rest,  the  gentle  and  refined  Mr.  K.,  like  many  others  who  have  lived 
much  among  the  Indians,  has  a  real  attachment  to  them,  and  seems  to 
have  an  eye  rather  for  their  virtues  than  the  failings  whichj  are  peculiar 
to  this  remarkable  people.  The  K.'s  resided  long  in  Minnesota  [Wis- 
consin], and  only  within  the  last  few  years  at  Chicago  (Illinois),  where 
they  have  a  handsome  house  with  a  large  garden. 

Chicago  is  one  of  the  most  miserable  and  ugly  cities  which  I  have 
yet  seen  in  America,  and  is  very  little  deserving  of  its  name,"  Queen 
of  the  Lake";  for,  sitting  there  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  in  wretched 
dishabille,  she  resembles  rather  a  huckstress  than  a  queen.  Certainly, 
the  city  seems  for  the  most  part  to  consist  of  shops.  One  sees  scarcely 
any  pretty  country  houses,  with  their  gardens,  either  within  or  without 
the  city — which  is  so  generally  the  case  in  American  towns — and  in 
the  streets  the  houses  are  principally  of  wood,  the  streets  formed  with 
wood,  or,  if  without,  broad  and  sandy.  And  it  seems  as  if,  on  all  hands, 
people  came  here  merely  to  trade,  to  make  money,  and  not  to  live. 
Nevertheless,  I  have,  here  in  Chicago,  become  acquainted  with  some  of 
the  most  agreeable  and  delightful  people  that  I  ever  met  with  anywhere; 
good  people,  handsome  and  intellectual;  people  to  live  with,  people  to 
talk  with,  people  to  like  and  grow  fond  of,  both  men  and  women;  people 
who  do  not  ask  the  stranger  a  hundred  questions,  but  who  give  him  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  and  learning  in  the  most  agreeable  manner  which 
he  can  desire;  rare  people!  And  besides  that,  people  who  are  not 
horribly  pleased  with  themselves  and  their  world,  and  their  city,  and 
their  country,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  small  towns,  but  who  see 
deficiencies  and  can  speak  of  them  properly,  and  can  bear  to  hear  others 
speak  of  them  also. 

Today  and  last  evening  also,  a  hot  wind  has  been  blowing  here, 
which  I  imagine  must  be  like  the  Italian  sirocco.  One  becomes  quite 
enervated  by  it;  and  the  air  of  Chicago  is  a  cloud  of  dust. 

September  2 yd.  But  in  the  evening  when  the  sun  descends,  and  the 
wind  subsides,  I  go  to  some  higher  part  of  the  city,  to  see  the  sun  set 
over  the  prairie  land,  for  it  is  very  beautiful;  and,  beholding  this  mag- 
nificent spectacle,  melancholy  thoughts  arise.  I  see  in  this  sun-bright 
western  land  thousands  of  shops  and  thousands  of  traders,  but  no 
Temple  of  the  Sun,  and  only  few  worshippers  of  the  sun  and  of  eternal 
beauty.  Were  the  Peruvians  of  a  nobler  intellectual  culture  than  this 


FREDRIKA  BREMER'S  VISIT  215 

people?    Had  they  a  loftier  turn  of  mind?    Were  they  the  children  of 
the  light  in  a  higher  degree  than  the  present  race  who  colonize  the 

western  land  of  the  New  World  ? 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  ** 

There  are  a  great  number  of  Germans  in  Chicago,  especially  among 
the  tradespeople  and  handcraftsmen.  The  city  is  only  twenty  years 
old,  and  it  has  increased  in  that  time  to  a  population  of  twenty-five 
thousand  souls.  A  genuine  "baby"  of  the  Great  West!  but,  as  I  have 
already  said,  somewhat  unkemmed  as  yet.  There  is,  however,  here  a 
street,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  a  row  of  houses  or  small  villas  along 
the  shore  of  the  lake,  standing  on  elevated  ground,  which  has  in  its 
situation  a  character  of  high  life,  and  which  will  possess  it  in  all  respects 
some  day,  for  there  are  already  people  here  from  different  parts  of  the 
globe  who  will  constitute  the  sound  kernel  of  a  healthy  aristocracy. 

Chicago  bears  on  its  arms  the  name  of  "the  City  in  the  Garden"; 
and  when  the  prairie  land  around  it  becomes  garden,  there  will  be 
reason  for  its  poetical  appellation. 

I  have  seen  here,  also,  light  and  lofty  schoolrooms,  and  have  heard 
the  scholars  in  them,  under  the  direction  of  an  excellent  master,  sing 
quartettes  in  such  a  manner  as  affected  me  to  tears.  And  the 
children,  how  eager,  how  glad  to  learn  they  were!  Hurra!  The  West 
builds  light  schoolrooms  where  the  young  may  learn  joyfully,  and 
sing  correctly  and  sweetly!  The  West  must  progress  nobly.  The  build- 
ing of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  has  already  commenced. 

My  friends  here  deplored  the  chaotic  state,  and  the  want  of  integrity 
which  prevails  in  political  affairs,  and  which  may  be  principally  attrib- 
uted to  the  vast  emigration  of  the  rudest  class  of  the  European  popula- 
tion, and  the  facility  with  which  every  civil  right  is  obtained  in  the 
state.  A  year's  residence  in  the  state  gives  the  immigrant  the  right  of 
a  citizen,  and  he  has  a  vote  in  the  election  of  the  governors  of  both  the 
city  and  the  state.  Unprincipled  political  agitators  avail  themselves 
of  the  ignorance  of  immigrants,  and  inveigle  them  by  fine  speeches  to 
vote  for  the  candidate  whom  they  laud,  and  who  sometimes  betrays 
them.  The  better  and  more  noble-minded  men  of  the  state  are  unable 
to  compete  with  these  schemers,  and  therefore  do  not  offer  themselves; 
hence  it  most  frequently  happens  that  they  are  not  the  best  men  who 
govern  the  state.  Bold  and  ambitious  fortune  hunters  most  easily 
get  into  office;  and  once  in  office,  they  endeavor  to  maintain  their  place 
by  every  kind  of  scheme  and  trick,  as  well  as  by  flattering  the  masses 

1  We  here  omit  a  considerable  amount  of  personal  detail  concerning  some  Swedish  individ- 
uals, inhabitants  of  Chicago. 


2i6  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

of  the  people  to  preserve  their  popularity.  The  ignorant  people  of 
Europe,  who  believe  that  kings  and  great  lords  are  the  cause  of  all  the 
evils  in  the  world,  vote  for  that  man  who  speaks  loudest  against  the 
powerful,  and  who  declares  himself  to  be  a  friend  of  the  people. 

I  also  heard  it  lamented  that  the  Scandinavian  immigrants  not 
unfrequently  come  hither  with  the  belief  that  the  State  Church  and 
religion  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  and  when  they  have  left  behind 
them  the  former,  they  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  latter.  Long 
compulsion  of  mind  has  destroyed,  to  that  degree,  their  powers  of  mind; 
and  they  come  into  the  West  very  frequently,  in  the  first  instance,  as 
rejectors  of  all  church  communion  and  every  higher  law.  And  this 
is  natural  enough  for  people  not  accustomed  to  think  greatly;  but  is  a 
moment  of  transition  which  can  not  last  very  long  in  any  sound  mind, 
and  in  a  hemisphere  where  the  glance  is  so  clear  and  alive  to  everything 
which  contributes  to  the  higher  life  of  man  or  of  society. 

Illinois  is  a  youthful  state,  with  a  million  inhabitants,  but  is  able, 
with  her  rich  soil,  to  support  at  least  ten  millions.  The  climate,  however, 
is  not  favorable  to  immigrants  from  Europe,  who  during  the  first  few 
years  suffer  from  fever  and  other  climatic  diseases. 

In  the  morning  I  leave  Chicago  and  cross  Lake  Michigan  to  Mil- 
waukee, in  Wisconsin.  An  agreeable  young  man  came  last  evening  to 
fetch  me  there. 

I  have  been  merely  a  few  days  in  Chicago,  and  yet  I  have  seen  people 
there  with  whom  I  should  like  to  live  all  my  days. 

But  these  feelings  for  amiable  people  whom  I  meet  with  now  and 
then  during  my  pilgrimage  are  to  me  as  "a  tent  of  one  night,"  under 
which  I  repose  thankfully.  I  would  fain  linger  yet  longer;  but  I  must 
the  next  morning  remove  my  tent  and  proceed  still  further — and  I  do 
so  with  a  sigh. 

Farewell,  ye  charming  people  in  that  ugly  city!  Receive  my  thanks, 
warm  hearts  of  Chicago! 


A  CANADIAN  BUSINESS  MAN'S 
IMPRESSIONS,  1857 

T  was  a  cold,  sharp  morning,  when  I  stepped  out  of  the  hotel 
into  the  heart  of  Chicago,  and  the  scene  was  one  full  of  live- 
liness and  animation.  I  had  not  gone  one  hundred  yards 
Jlc^ei  before  I  was  struck  with  a  peculiarity  in  the  strange  difference 
of  level  of  the  footpaths.  I  found  myself  constantly  ascending  and 
descending  steps.  Without  explanation  it  would  appear  to  be  an 
absurd  attention  to  individual  caprice,  at  the  expense  of  the  popular 
convenience,  whereas  the  very  opposite  is  the  case,  and  nowhere  can 
be  found  a  greater  example  of  good  municipal  government,  conducted, 
too,  with  a  courage  setting  at  defiance  all  influences,  and  looking  entirely 
for  support  to  good  sense,  and  to  those  sober  second  thoughts  which  in 
the  end  generally  prevail.  Chicago  naturally  is  but  a  trifle  above  the 
level  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  even  now  is  rising  annually.  It  varies 
from  6  feet  to  1 7  feet  higher,  and  some  of  the  main  avenues  are  on  the 
lowest  level.  Thus  the  system  of  sewerage  could  be  but  ill  carried  out, 
unless  the  grade  of  such  streets  were  placed  at  a  higher  level.  But  the 
difficulty  existed,  that  in  the  earliest  annals  of  this  wonderful  place — 
for  with  barely  the  existence  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  it  has  now  1 10,000 
inhabitants — costly  buildings  were  put  up  at  a  level  which  would  be 
affected  by  any  change  of  grade.  Some  few  of  them  might  possibly 
be  raised;  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  others  of  so  expensive  a  character 
as  to  be  beyond  that  remedy.  Still  there  was  the  improvement  called 
for,  and  common  sense  pointed  out  that  without  drainage  there  could 
be  no  health.  Higher  grades  were  accordingly  determined  on  and  the 
streets  raised,  that  is,  the  center  of  the  road,  while  the  footpaths  were 
kept  to  the  old  level,  retaining  walls  being  built  to  the  sides  of  the 
carriage-way  to  keep  it  from  falling  outwards.  As  new  buildings  are 
put  up  the  new  level  is  given;  but  as  the  old  ones  keep  to  the  original 
sidewalk,  these  strange  inequalities  exist,  and  the  footpaths  present  the 
appearance  I  describe.  A  few  years  will  lead  to  conformity,  and  then 
the  wisdom  of  the  present  measures  will  be  appreciated.  I  have  men- 
tioned the  population  of  Chicago,  and  the  question  follows,  is  it  a  city? 
I  am  hardly  prepared  after  but  a  few  hours'  stay  here  to  answer  the 


21 8  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

question  myself.     The  term  city  means  much.     It  is  not  simply  a  com- 
mercial center,  but  there  must  be  found  all  the  combination  and  power 
which  can  influence  the  politics,  the  tone,  the  feelings,  and  the  habits  of 
the  territory  tributary  to  it.     From  a  metropolis  must  emanate  a  litera- 
ture, if  not  rich  in  thought,  at  least  original  and  written  with  power,  to 
be  worthy  of  the  name.     There  must  exist  circles  where  are  found  none 
but  polished  manners  and  that  exquisite  refinement  which  never  even 
accidentally  pains.     There,  too,  is  the  type  of  good  breeding,  of  dress 
and  conversation,  and  of  all  on  which  we  base  our  social  ethics.     No  man 
of  common  sense  in  Chicago,  who  has  been,  I  will  not  say  to  Europe, 
but  simply  to  Boston,  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  and  at  a  venture  I 
add  New  Orleans,  would  deny  this  proposition  abstractedly.     Applying 
it  to  Chicago,  what  would  be  his  reply?     I  think  that  we  might  make  a 
compromise  and  agree  to  say  that  Chicago  is  a  western  city.     To  my 
mind  the  very  term  is  suggestive.     Commercially  there  are  few  points 
more  marked.     Eleven  railways  center  there.     It  is  the  head  of  Lake 
navigation — of  those  large  inland  waters  which  we  in  Canada  have  done 
so  much  to  develop;   and   to  perfect  which,  effort  after  effort  is  yet 
imperatively  called  for.     It  is  the  one  great  point  on  the  high  road  from 
the  seaboard  to  the  West,  and  from  the  West  to  the  North.     It  is  the 
ruling  market  in  western  commercial  operations.     It  follows  necessarily 
that  there  is  much  wealth,  much  hospitality,  great  display,  and  lavish 
living.     But  here  we  stop.     Everybody  knows  everybody.     The  press, 
although  marked  by  energy  and  ability,  is  unknown  out  of  the  state  of 
Illinois.     The  two  theaters  are  notable  enough  edifices — the  new  one 
especially — but  neither  is  sufficiently  lighted,  while  the  acting  is  what 
one  would  not  walk  across  the  street  to  see;   for  there  is  no  censorship, 
no  criticism  upon  it:  no  inducements  for  merit  to  be  diligent.     Litera- 
ture there  is  none;    and  to  speak  of  social  results,  no  doubt  there  are 
happy  homes  in  Chicago  where  charming  and  refined  women  can  be 
met,  who  have  thought  some  education  to  be  necessary;  but  their  influ- 
ence is  confined  to  those  who  have  the  happiness  to  enjoy  their  society. 
Politics  we  would  even  discard  from  our  calculation;   for  the  very  spirit 
of  the  United  States'  institutions  is  in  opposition  to  anything  like 
centralization,  but  the  public  opinion  of  a  city  of  100,000  inhabitants 
ought  in  any  case  to  have  weight.     Has  it  in  this  instance?     Perhaps  it 
may  be  said  that  this  mode  of  treating  the  question  is  hardly  fair.     Never- 
theless, it  so  strikes  my  mind.      Otherwise,  I  will  admit  the  undoubted 
splendor  of  many  of  the  public  buildings,  although  aesthetically  they 
might  be  closely  criticised.     But  architecture  is  hardly  yet  a  fine  art 
on  this  continent.    There  is  often  a  great  deal  of  cleverness  and  originality 


A  CANADIAN  BUSINESS  MAN'S  IMPRESSIONS  219 

displayed;  but  the  fault  is  that  the  designers  have  not  been  subjected 
to  the  discipline  of  study,  and,  therefore,  fail  to  observe  those  strict 
cardinal  points  of  outline,  proportion,  and  composition  which  can  never 
be  violated.  For  a  building  to  be  unlike  anything  else  is  not  necessarily 
a  triumph  of  art.  It  is  now  many  centuries  since  the  first  temples  were 
fashioned  into  form;  and  it  is  hardly  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  young 
man  who  does  not  give  himself  the  trouble  to  study,  can  be  acquainted 
with  the  principles  which  only  by  slow  degrees  are  evolved,  and  which 
it  requires  ages  to  mould  into  rule.  These  words,  which  I  have  made 
as  few  as  possible,  may  appear  a  digression,  but  I  could  not  otherwise 
explain  my  meaning;  for  while  I  recognize  many  noble  edifices  here, 
there  is  nearly  in  all  the  fault  which  I  point  out.  Perhaps  the  most 
striking  terrace  is  a  row  of  houses  with  a  front  of  white  marble  on  the 
Michigan  Avenue,  which,  commanding  the  front  of  the  lake,  is  the  grand 
promenade — the  Paseo  of  Chicago,  and  is  the  fashionable  street,  or  what 
perhaps  is  the  same  thing,  is  inhabited  by  the  wealthy  operators  of  the 
place.  An  old  friend  whom  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  here,  pointed 
out  houses  to  me  and  stated  the  rents,  which,  if  I  had  to  pay,  I  should 
shudder  at;  and  he  told  me  the  prices  of  land,  which,  in  my  simplicity, 
I  deemed  fabulous.  Fancy  one  living  on  sixty  or  seventy  feet  of  frontage, 
worth  $400  the  lineal  foot,  and  as  the  legal  interest  in  Illinois  is  10  per 
cent.,  you  would  pay  for  ground  rent  $2800  without  having  more  than 
a  yard  twelve  feet  square.  We  have  hitherto  considered  rents  excessive 
in  Toronto,  but  a  house  which — according  to  the  rates  of  a  year  back — 
would  be  worth  with  us  from  $400  to  $500,  here  obtains  $1400  or  $1500; 
and  a  wooden  frame  house  which  would  be  worth  only  $160  or  $170,  is 
here  worth  from  $400  to  $600.  Wabash  Avenue,  which  is  parallel  to 
Michigan  Avenue,  struggles  with  it  for  supremacy,  and  I  was  shown  a 
house,  with  a  stone  front  certainly,  but  with  but  one  window  to  the 
front  room  on  the  ground  floor,  while  the  other  remaining  three  stories 
consisted  of  two  windows  each,  of  which  the  rent  was  $1600.  The 
rents  of  stores  are  equally  enormous.  Buildings  are  still  going  up  all 
over  the  city;  some  of  these  have  iron  fronts,  and  are  marked  by  much 
architectural  pretension.  When  painted  they  admirably  resemble 
stone,  and  are  striking  buildings.  How  they  would  be  affected  by  fire 
remains  to  be  seen,  for  the  system  is  yet  only  an  experiment;  although 
I  cannot  but  think  the  effect  of  great  heat  would  so  seriously  warp  and 
twist  the  metal  as  to  render  restoration  necessary. 

Everywhere  you  hear  of  the  bad  times,  but  the  people  accept  them 
with  resignation,  for  they  seem  to  live  just  as  fast  as  usual.     When  I 


220  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

visited  the  theaters  both  were  crowded,  and  a  linen  draper's  store  selling 
off  bargains  in  some  wonderful  way,  is  thronged  at  all  hours.  Perhaps 
the  crisis  is  looked  upon  after  all  as  one  of  those  calamities  which  are 
necessary  in  the  mercantile  as  well  as  in  the  physical  and  moral  world — 
which  give  some  pain  and  cause  some  suffering,  but  which  chasten  and 
improve.  I  am  told  that  it  has  long  been  felt  here,  that  in  that  property 
which  is  considered  peculiarly  to  represent  money,  there  was  much  that 
was  fictitious,  and  that  much  of  the  extravagance  and  recklessness  in 
commercial  circles  was  attributable  to  this  feeling.  A  shock  like  the 
present  could  but  have  its  sobering  influence,  and  it  is  considered  that 
by  next  spring  there  will  be  a  sounder  state  of  public  opinion.  Doubt- 
less many  houses  have  been  brought  down  simply  by  the  panic,  and  it  is 
fair  to  expect  that  these  will  resume  operations  without  loss  of  credit. 
But  the  mere  things  of  straw  have  passed  away,  it  is  to  be  hoped  never 
to  rearise. 


CHICAGO  IN  SPRINGTIME,  1858 

JHICAGO,  the  Wondrous,  sits  amid  her  wealth,  like  a  mag- 
nificent sultana,  half  reclining  over  a  great  oval  mirror, 
supplied  by  that  lake  of  lakes,  the  fathomless  Michigan. 
Perhaps  the  resemblance  might  be  unpoetically  traced  to 
particulars;  for  we  are  told  by  the  lotus-eating  travelers,  that  Oriental 
beauties,  with  all  their  splendor,  are  not  especially  clean.  Certain  it 
is  that  our  Occidental  sultana  dresses  her  fair  head  with  towers  and  spires, 
and  hangs  about  her  neck  long  rows  of  gems  in  the  shape  of  stately  and 
elegant  dwellings, — yet,  descending  to  her  feet,  we  sink  in  mud  and  mire, 
or  tumble  unguardedly  into  excavations  set  like  traps  for  the  unwary, 
or  oust  whole  colonies  of  rats  from  beneath  plank  walks  where  they 
have  burrowed  securely  ever  since  "improvements"  began.  At  some 
seasons,  indeed,  there  is  no  mud;  because  the  high  winds  from  the  lake 
or  the  prairies  turn  the  mud  into  dust,  which  blinds  our  eyes,  fills  our 
mouths,  and  makes  us  Quakers  in  appearance  and  anything  but  saints 
in  heart.  Chicago  walking  resembles  none  but  such  as  Christian  en- 
countered as  he  fled  from  the  City  of  Destruction;  yet  in  this  case  the 
ills  are  those  of  a  City  of  Cowstruction, — sure  to  disappear  as  soon  as 
the  builders  find  time  to  care  for  such  trifles.  Chicago  people,  it  is  well 
known,  walk  with  their  heads  in  the  clouds,  and,  naturally,  do  not  mind 
what  happens  to  their  feet.  It  is  only  strangers  who  exclaim,  and 
sometimes  more  than  exclaim,  at  the  dangers  of  the  way.  Castaway 
carnages  lie  along  the  roadside,  like  ships  on  Fire  Island  beach.  Nobody 
minds  them.  If  you  see  a  gentleman  at  a  distance,  progressing  slowly 
with  a  gliding  or  floundering  pace,  you  conclude  he  has  a  horse  under 
him,  and,  perhaps,  on  nearer  approach,  you  see  bridle  and  headstall. 
This  is  in  early  spring,  while  the  frost  is  coming  out  of  the  ground.  As 
the  season  advances,  the  horse  emerges,  and  you  are  just  getting  a  fair 
sight  of  him  when  the  dust  begins  and  he  disappears  again.  So  say  the 
scoffers,  and  those  who  would,  but  do  not,  own  any  city  lots  in  that 
favored  vicinity;  and  to  the  somewhat  heated  mind  of  the  traveler  who 
encounters  such  things  for  the  first  time,  the  story  does  not  seem  so  very 
much  exaggerated.  Simple  wayfarers  like  myself,  however,  tell  no 
such  wicked  tales  of  the  Garden  City;  but  remember  only  her  youth, 


222  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

her  grandeur,  her  spirit,  her  hospitality,  her  weight  of  cares,  her  immense 
achievements,  and  her  sure  promise  of  future  metropolitan  splendors. 

The  vicinity  of  Chicago  is  all  dotted  with  beautiful  villa-residences. 
To  drive  among  them  is  like  turning  over  a  book  of  architectural  draw- 
ings,— so  great  is  their  variety,  and  so  marked  the  taste  which  prevails. 
Many  of  them  are  of  the  fine  light-colored  stone  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  their  substantial  excellence  inspires  a  feeling  that  all  this 
prosperity  is  of  no  ephemeral  character.  People  do  not  build  such 
country  houses  until  they  feel  settled  and  secure.  The  lake  shore  is  of 
course  the  line  of  attraction,  for  it  is  the  only  natural  beauty  of  the 
place.  But  what  trees!  Several  of  the  streets  of  Chicago  may  easily 
become  as  beautiful  drives  as  the  far-famed  Cascino  at  Florence,  and  will 
be  so  before  her  population  doubles  again, — which  is  giving  but  a  short 
interval  for  the  improvement.  No  parks  as  yet,  however.  Land  on 
the  lake  shore  is  too  precious,  and  the  flats  west  of  the  town  areq  uite 
despised.  Yet  city  parks  do  not  demand  very  unequal  surface,  and 
it  would  not  require  a  very  potent  landscape  gardener  or  an  unheard-of 
amount  of  dollars  to  make  a  fine  driving  and  riding  ground,  where  the 
new  carriages  of  the  fortunate  might  be  aired,  and  the  fine  horses  of  the 
gay  exercised,  during  a  good  part  of  the  year. 

To  describe  Chicago,  one  would  need  all  the  superlatives  set  in  a 
row.  Grandest,  flattest, — muddiest,  dustiest, — hottest,  coldest,— wet- 
test, driest, — farthest  north,  south,  east,  and  west  from  other  places, 
consequently  most  central,' — best  harbor  on  Lake  Michigan,  worst  harbor 
and  smallest  river  any  great  commercial  city  ever  lived  on, — most  elegant 
in  architecture,  meanest  in  hovel-propping, — wildest  in  speculation, 
solidest  in  value, — proudest  in  self-esteem,  loudest  in  self-disparagement, 
— most  lavish,  most  grasping, — most  public-spirited  in  some  things, 
blindest  and  darkest  on  some  points  of  highest  interest. 

And  some  poor  souls  would  doubtless  add, — most  fascinating,  or 
most  desolate, — according  as  one  goes  there,  gay  and  hopeful,  to  find 
troops  of  prosperous  friends,  or,  lonely  and  poor,  with  the  distant  hope 
of  bettering  broken  fortunes  by  struggling  among  the  driving  thousands 
already  there  on  the  same  errand.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  place  in  the 
world  where  it  is  more  necessary  to  take  a  bright  and  hopeful  view  of 
life,  and  no  ic  where  this  is  more  difficult.  There  is  too  much  at  stake. 
Those  who  have  visited  Baden-Baden  and  her  Kur-saal  sisters  in  the 
height  of  the  season  need  not  be  told  that  no  "church-face"  ever  equalled 
in  solemnity  the  countenances  of  those  who  surround  the  fatal  tables, 
waiting  for  the  stony  lips  of  the  croupier  to  announce  "Noir  perd"  or 
"Rouge  gagne."  At  Chicago  are  a  wider  table,  higher  stakes,  more 


CHICAGO  IN  SPRINGTIME  223 

desperate  throws,  and  Fate  herself  presiding,  or  what  seems  Fate,  at 
once  partial  and  inexorable. 

But,  on  this  great  scale,  even  success  fails  to  bring  smiles.  The 
winners  sit  "with  their  hair  on  end  at  their  own  wonders,"  and  half- 
fearing  that  such  golden  showers  have  some  illusion  about  them  and 
may  prove  fairy  favors  at  last.  Next  to  this  feeling  comes  the  thirst 
for  more.  Enlarged  means  bring  enlarged  desires  and  ever-extending 
plans.  The  repose  and  lightness  of  heart  that  were  at  first  to  be  the 
reward  of  success  recede  farther  and  farther  into  the  dim  distance,  until 
at  last  they  are  lost  sight  of  entirely,  confessed,  with  a  sigh,  to  be  unat- 
tainable. How  can  people  in  this  State  wear  cheerful  countenances? 
When  one  looks  at  the  gay  and  social  faces  and  habits  of  some  little 
German  town,  where  are  cultivated  people,  surrounded  by  the  books  and 
pictures  they  love,  with  leisure  enough  for  music  and  dancing  and  tea- 
garden  chat,  for  deep  friendships  and  lofty  musings,  it  would  seem  as  if 
our  shrewd  Yankeeland  and  its  outcroppings  at  the  West  had  not  yet 
found  out  everything  worth  knowing.  Froissart's  famous  remark  about 
the  English  in  France — "They  take  their  pleasure  sadly,  after  their 
fashion" — may  apply  to  the  population  of  Chicago,  and  it  will  be  some 
time  yet,  I  fancy,  before  they  will  take  it  very  gayly. 

At  a  little  country  town,  the  other  day,  not  within  a  thousand  miles 
of  Chicago,  a  family  about  leaving  for  a  distant  place  advertised  their 
movables  for  sale  at  auction.  There  was  such  a  stir  throughout  the 
settlement  as  called  forth  an  expression  of  wonder  from  a  stranger. 
"Ah!"  said  a  good  lady,  "auctions  are  the  only  gayety  we  have  here!" 

Joking  apart,  there  was  a  deep  American  truth  in  this  seeming 
niaiserie. 

Chicago  has,  as  we  have  said,  with  all  her  wealth,  no  public  park  or 
other  provision  for  outdoor  recreation.  She  has  no  gallery  of  Art,  or 
the  beginning  of  one, — no  establishment  of  music,  no  public  library, — 
no  social  institution  whatever,  except  the  church.  Without  that 
blessed  bond,  her  people  would  be  absolute  units,  as  independent  of  each 
other  as  the  grains  of  sand  on  the  seashore,  swept  hither  and  thither  by 
the  ocean  winds. 

But  even  before  these  words  have  found  their  way  to  the  Garden 
City,  they  will,  perhaps,  be  inapplicable, — so  rapid  is  progress  at  the 
West.  The  people  are  like  a  great  family  moving  into  a  new  house. 
There  is  so  much  sweeping  and  dusting  to  do,  so  much  finding  of  places 
for  the  furniture,  so  much  time  to  spend  in  providing  for  breakfast, dinner, 
and  tea,  lodging  and  washing,  that  nobody  thinks  of  unpacking  the 
pictures,  taking  the  books  out  of  their  boxes,  or  getting  up  drives  or 


224  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

riding  parties.  All  these  come  in  good  time,  and  will  be  the  better  done 
for  a  little  prudent  delay. 

There  is,  to  the  stranger,  an  appearance  of  extreme  hurry  in  Chicago, 
and  the  streets  are  very  peculiar  in  not  having  a  lady  walking  in  them. 
Day  after  day  I  traversed  them,  meeting  crowds  of  men,  who  looked 
like  the  representatives  of  every  nation  and  tongue  and  people, — and 
every  class  of  society,  from  the  greenest  rustic,  or  the  most  undisguised 
sharper,  to  the  man  of  most  serious  respectability,  or  him  of  highest 
ton.  Yet  one  lady  walking  in  the  streets  I  saw  not;  and  when  I  say  not 
one  lady,  I  mean  that  I  did  not  meet  a  woman  who  seemed  to  claim  that 
title,  or  any  title  much  above  that  of  an  ordinary  domestic.  Perhaps 
this  is  only  a  spring  symptom,  which  passes  off  when  the  mud  dries  up 
a  little,— but  it  certainly  gave  a  rather  forlorn  or  funereal  aspect  to  the 
streets  for  the  time. 

There  is,  nevertheless,  potent  inspiration  in  the  resolute  and  oc- 
cupied air  of  these  crowds.  Hardly  any  one  stays  long  among  them 
without  feeling  a  desire  to  share  their  excitement,  and  do  something 
towards  the  splendid  future  which  is  evidently  beckoning  them  on. 
Preparing  the  future!  It  is  glorious  business.  No  wonder  it  makes 
the  pulse  quicken  and  the  eye  look  as  if  it  saw  spirits.  It  may  be  said, 
that  in  some  sense  we  are  all  preparing  the  future;  but  in  the  West 
there  is  a  special  meaning  in  the  expression.  In  circumstances  so  new 
and  wondrous,  first  steps  are  all-important.  Those  who  have  been 
providentially  led  to  become  early  settlers  have  immense  power  for  good 
or  evil.  One  can  trace  in  many  or  most  of  our  Western  towns,  and  even 
states,  the  spirit  of  their  first  influential  citizens.  Happy  is  it  for  Chi- 
cago that  she  has  been  favored  in  this  respect, — and  to  her  honor  be  it 
said,  that  she  appreciates  her  benefactors.  Of  one  citizen,  who  has 
been  for  twenty  years  past  doing  the  quiet  and  modest  work  of  a  good 
genius  in  the  city  of  his  adoption,  it  is  currently  said,  that  he  has  built 
a  hundred  miles  of  her  streets, — and  there  is  no  mark  of  respect  and 
gratitude  that  she  would  not  gladly  show  him.  Other  citizens  take  the 
most  faithful  and  disinterested  care  of  her  schools;  and  to  many  she  is 
indebted  for  an  amount  of  liberality  and  public  spirit  which  is  constantly 
increasing  her  enormous  prosperity.  Happy  the  city  which  possesses 
such  citizens!  Happy  the  citizens  who  have  a  city  so  nobly  deserving 
of  their  best  services! 


A  GREAT  REPORTER'S  OBSERVATIONS,  1881 

[May  2ist.\ 

{HE  special  train  scrambled  into  the  Chicago  terminus,  or 
]  depot  (which  has  not  yet  done  Phoenix  from  its  ruination 
in  the  great  fire)  at  some  unpleasantly  early  hour  this  morn- 

ing.     (We  have  been  subjected  to  three,  if  not  four,  distinct 

alterations  in  time-keeping  as  we  traveled  west.  New  York  time  rules 
up  to  the  State  borders;  Columbia  time  regulates  watches  and  clocks 
till  Chicago  is  reached,  and  then  westward  the  time  changes  again.) 

The  cars  underwent  the  shocks  that  railway  flesh  is  heir  to  at 
shunting  time,  till  it  was  necessary  to  get  up  and  go  forth.  Whilst  the 
baggage  was  being  taken  out  of  the  train,  the  Duke  and  I  set  out  to  find 
our  way  to  the  hotel.  The  ancient  landmarks,  however,  such  as  I 
remembered  them,  had  been  ruthlessly  swept  away  by  the  great  fire; 
but  it  is  not  easy  for  a  man  to  lose  himself  in  an  American  city,  where 
the  streets  are  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  cutting  the  buildings  into 
rectangular  blocks.  And  so  we  wandered  on  through  the  crowds  of 
early  workmen  and  people  going  to  their  various  places  of  business  in 
straight  lines,  and  saw  street  life  in  the  morning — coffee-stands  and 
shops  in  full  play,  crowds  round  the  barbers'  doors  and  saloons,  and 
colored  men  and  women — a  large  element — shuffling  to  and  fro  along  to 
the  scene  of  their  labors.  Vast  piles  of  masonry  now  tower  above  the 
broad  thoroughfares,  bearing  the  usual  striking  and  disfiguring  notices 
which  the  traders  stick  up  to  "differentiate"  their  establishments — very 
wonderful  indeed  when  one  reflected  that  they  had  all  been  raised  on 
the  area  of  the  recent  conflagration,  one  of  the  greatest  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  Over  a  large  proportion  of  the  shops  German  names  were 
inscribed;  here  and  there  over  the  cellars  figured  the  styles  and  titles 
of  Chinese  washermen;  and  small  establishments  where  groceries  and 
drinks  and  the  feebler  kinds  of  commerce  were  carried  on,  displayed 
Hibernian  patronymics. 

Noble  edifices,  public  and  private,  challenged  admiration  from  time 
to  time,  especially  the  Post  Office  and  Custom  House;  and  as  I  read  the 
inscription  on  the  monument  to  "G.  B.  Armstrong,  a  native  of  Co. 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Antrim,  Ireland,  the  founder  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,"  I  could  not 
but  wonder  what  he  could  have  founded  had  he  remained  at  home. 

Our  walk  through  the  streets  to  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  gave  us  the 
idea  that  the  authorities  did  not  turn  much  of  their  attention  to  sanitary 
measures. 

There  is  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  activity  and  energy  which  came 
forth  to  reconstruct  the  city  out  of  the  ashes  on  grander  lines  than  ever. 
But,  oh!  the  filth  of  the  streets!  refuse  in  masses  by  the  curbstones, 
orange  and  apple  peels,  peanuts,  oyster  shells,  feathers,  paper, 
mud,  dirt,  on  the  flags.  As  such  a  state  of  things  was  felt  to  be  a  slur 
on  the  administration,  it  was  explained  to  us  that  it  was,  to  say  the  least, 
unusual,  and  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  it  was  accounted  for  in  some 
measure  by  the  exceedingly  severe  and  protracted  winter  which  filled 
the  streets  with  snow,  and  only  ended  before  our  arrival.  Five  thousand 
men  and  more  had  been  employed  in  clearing  away  the  mess  and  slush; 
but  they  had  not  by  any  means  done  the  work.  The  Mayor,  Mr. 
Harrison,  was,  as  we  had  occasion  to  perceive,  a  man  of  great  energy, 
and  he  was  grappling  with  the  dirt  and  official  abuses  in  public  adminis- 
tration and  elsewhere  very  vigorously.  If  he  comes  out  of  the  struggle 
with  success  and  unbegrimed,  Chicago  and  he  may  be  proud  of  each 
other,  and  I  heartily  wish  him  a  safe  deliverance. 

The  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  was  involved  in  the  common  ruin  ere  it 
was  completed;  but  it  is  now  ready  for  any  possible  demand  on  its 
space  and  resources. 

A  little  incident  of  the  following  morning  afforded  an  illustration 
of  the  conditions  under  which  the  Venice  of  the  West  has  grown  up. 
Soon  after  breakfast  Mr.  Drake,  the  landlord,  sent  up  word  that  General 
Jefferson  Davis  was  below,  and  would  be  glad  to  pay  his  respects  to  the 
Duke  of  Sutherland,  if  his  grace  would  receive  him.  He  had  only  ar- 
rived that  morning  from  New  Orleans,  which  he  had  left  on  Monday 
evening.  Nine  hundred  miles  is  a  long  way  for  an  old  man  to  travel  at 
a  stretch,  but  he  did  not  complain  of  fatigue,  and  he  was  going  on  to 
Montreal,  where  he  had  business  that  night.  The  ex-President  of  the 
Confederate  States — the  man  who  was  pronounced  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
to  have  "made  a  nation" — was  seated  in  the  crowded  hall  smoking  a 
cigar  alongside  of  General  Wright,  who  had  fought  against  him  on  the 
Federal  side,  but  who  had  not  forgotten  the  old  days  when  he  and  Jeffer- 
son Davis  were  cadets  together.  He  is  now  grey,  almost  white-headed, 
wearing  a  closely-cut  beard  and  mustaches,  his  features  thinner  and 
sharper  than  of  yore,  but  his  eye  is  as  bright  and  as  clear  as  ever.  But 
it  struck  me  that  he  had  what  is  called  "aged"  very  much  within  the  last 


A  GREAT  REPORTER'S  OBSERVATIONS  227 

few  years,  and  his  step  had  lost  a  great  deal  of  the  springy  lightness 
which  distinguished  his  walk  at  the  time  of  the  Great  War.  He  sat 
with  the  Duke  of  Sutherland  for  some  time,  talking  of  railway  traveling 
and  the  improvements  in  it  and  other  matters  in  the  States;  and  men- 
tioned with  regret  that  he  had  been  informed  of  a  serious  accident  to 
Mr.  Benjamin,1  of  whom  he  spoke  in  high  praise.  "The  last  time  I 
was  in  Chicago,"  he  said,  "I  was  in  command  of  the  post  we  had  here,2 
and  the  Indians  disputed  our  right  to  cross  the  river.  That  was  fifty 
years  ago."  How  history  makes  itself  in  the  Western  World!  This  day 
they  are  going  to  place  the  memorial3  on  the  site  of  the  blockhouse  which 
then  contained  the  little  frontier  garrison  that  Jeff  Davis  commanded, 
and  whose  control  the  red  man  refused  to  accept!  When  he  went  away 
every  one  of  the  party — and  there  were  some  among  them  who  certainly 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  lost  cause  he  had  championed  so  valiantly, 
and  to  which  he  still  adheres  with  indomitable  courage  and  affection — 
expressed  the  admiration  which  was  inspired  by  his  dignity  and  charming 
manner.  Diis  placuit,  &c.  A  little  later  the  Duke,  Sir  H.  Green,  Mr. 
Stephens,  and  Mr.  Wright  visited  General  Sheridan,  and  were  presented 
to  the  members  of  the  Head-Quarters  Staff  of  the  immense  region  over 
which  his  command  is  exercised,  and  amongst  them  General  Forsyth, 
who  had  been  in  India  at  the  time  of  the  Prince  of  Wales'  visit,  and 
was  known  to  the  Duke  of  Sutherland.  General  Sheridan  promised  us 
every  assistance  we  would  require,  and  held  out  great  temptations  to 
the  sporting  weaknesses  of  the  travelers  could  they  but  stay  a  little 
longer;  nay,  more,  he  sorely  tried  the  domesticity  of  Sir  H.  Green  by 
telling  him  of  an  expedition  which  is  to  come  off  on  Indian  territory 
never  yet  trodden  by  the  white  man's  foot  or  seen  by  white  man's  eye; 
but  a  programme  is  a  Procrustean  bed  which  men  make  for  themselves, 
and  these  joys  had  to  be  foregone  like  many  another  by  reason  of  previous 
engagements.  The  Duke  and  most  of  the  party  were  borne  off  to  visit 
the  slaughter  and  packing  houses,  and  so  we  missed  the  speeches  and  the 
parade  which  celebrated  the  erection  of  a  memorial  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
the  frontier  post,  just  fifty  years  ago,  of  the  United  States  on  Lake 
Michigan. 

Armor  porcosque  cano!     Of  the  slaughter  yards  and  packing  houses 
of  Messrs.  Armour  and  Co.,  five  miles  from  Chicago,  I  need  not  say  much, 

'Judah  P.  Benjamin,  United  States  senator  from  Louisiana,  and  later  a  member  of 
the  Confederate  cabinet.  On  the  collapse  of  the  Confederacy  he  fled  to  England  where  he 
attained  eminence  as  a  lawyer.  He  died  in  Paris  in  1884. 

2  This  is  incorrect  of  course.  Davis  was  stationed  at  Fort  Winnebago,  Wisconsin,  for 
several  years,  and  on  at  least  one  occasion  visited  Fort  Dearborn  during  this  period. 

'The  Hoyt  memorial  tablet  opposite  the  south  end  of  Rush  Street  bridge.  For  an 
account  of  the  ceremonies  attending  the  unveiling  see  Fergus  Historical  Series,  No.  16. 


228  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

for  they  have  been  described  in  every  detail  of  killing,  scalding,  skinning, 
cutting,  and  preserving,  by  many  visitors.  The  sight  and  the  smell 
were  too  much  for  some  of  the  weaker  vessels,  and  they  returned  to  the 
special  train  by  which  they  had  journeyed  to  the  yards,  whilst  the  others 
supped  full  of  horrors  and  statistics.  And  how  these  statistics  did  rain 
upon  us!  Millions  of  pounds  weight,  millions  of  dollars,  millions  of 
cubic  feet — figures  in  millions  and  tens  of  millions  everywhere — every- 
thing the  biggest,  the  tallest,  the  deepest,  the  broadest  in  the  world. 
What  human  brain  could  bear  the  weight  of  that  multiplication  table 
gone  mad?  Fortunately  it  is  all  down  in  little  books  neatly  tabulated. 
I  confess  the  greatest  wonder  to  me  was  not  that  so  many  living  things 
should  be  slaughtered,  and  that  so  much  food  should  be  grown  and 
garnered  and  carried,  but  that  there  were  over  the  world  so  many  mil- 
lions of  devouring  creatures  having  stomachs  for  them  all. 

I  have  called  Chicago  the  Venice  of  the  American  lakes,  or  some- 
thing of  the  kind.  In  one  respect  indeed  it  excels  the  Queen  of  the 
Adriatic — the  odors  of  the  canal-like  river  to  which  it  owes  so  much  of 
its  extraordinary  prosperity.  But  these  odors  are  to  be  deodorised  some 
day,  and  the  energies  which  have  raised  a  city  up  twice  in  little  more 
than  a  generation  from  ashes  and  muddy  waters,  will  no  doubt  accom- 
plish greater  works  than  that. 

The  mayor  (twice  elected  to  that  high  office),  Mr.  Harrison,  took 
the  Duke  out  to  see  the  "Crib,"  as  it  is  termed,  whence  the  waters  of 
the  lake  are  conducted  by  two  iron  tunnels,  two  miles  long,  to  supply 
the  city.  On  our  way  he  stopped  his  carriage  in  an  obscure  and  ill- 
looking  quarter  to  show  us  the  working  of  the  ingenious  system  by  which 
400  police  are  supposed  to  be  enabled  to  do  the  work  usually  allotted 
to  1000  men  in  other  cities.  Against  a  dead  wall  there  was  affixed  a 
wooden  box  about  3  ft.  square.  The  mayor  took  a  key  out  of  his  pocket 
and  opened  it.  The  key  was  at  once  fixed  in  the  lock  and  could  not  be 
removed  till  the  patrol  came  from  the  station.  This  station  was  a  mile 
and  a  quarter  away.  Then  the  mayor  pulled  down  a  small  lever  inside 
the  box  and  gave  the  signal  for  the  patrol  to  come  up  at  once.  Whilst 
we  were  waiting  he  showed  us  the  telephone  apparatus  by  which  detailed 
information  can  be  given  to  the  police  of  what  is  required  in  cases  of 
burglary,  assault,  fire,  &c.,  and  explained  that  keys  similar  to  those  he 
used  are  given  to  trustworthy  householders  who  desire  them,  so  that  in 
case  of  need  they  can  summon  the  police  at  once,  and  as  these  keys  are 
numbered  and  cannot  be  withdrawn  from  the  lock  there  is  no  risk  of 
practical  joking,  and  offenders  are  heavily  fined.  In  2>2  minutes  there 
came  tearing  along  the  street  at  full  speed,  driven  by  a  policeman,  a 


A  GREAT  REPORTER'S  OBSERVATIONS  229 

light  cart  with  two  horses,  with  two  of  the  force  in  the  vehicle.  Inside 
were  the  stretchers  and  appliances  for  removing  prisoners,  and,  that  the 
alarm  might  not  be  fruitless,  the  mayor  directed  the  police  to  pick  up 
a  "drunky"  whom  we  had  passed  on  our  way,  amusing  a  group  of  children 
by  his  innocent  but  ill-regulated  gambols.  A  little  crowd  assembled 
round  the  mayor  and  the  strangers  as  he  explained  the  devices  by  which 
the  authorities  battled  with  the  crime  and  excesses  of  the  hybrid  popula- 
tion of  the  city,  and  I  was  amused  by  the  expression  of  disgust  on  the 
faces  of  some  of  them  at  the  laudations  his  honor  bestowed  on  the 
ingenuity  and  effectiveness  of  the  means  he  was  developing  to  restrain 
th;  lawless  desire  of  gain  or  the  love  of  a  free  fight  which  distinguish 
some  of  the  citizens. 

The  proprietor  of  the  grand  hotel  in  which  we  lodged  displayed 
an  amount  of  energy  in  directing  our  movements,  for  which  we  were 
scarcely  prepared.  He  was  evidently  master  in  his  own  house,  and  in 
America  a  man  who  can  keep  an  hotel  is  able  to  do  anything,  and  is 
certainly  a  peer  of  any  duke  in  the  world.  After  dinner,  wishing  to  go 
to  a  theater,  a  request  was  made  at  the  bar  to  procure  places.  And  as 
we  humbly  walked  off  to  the  place  of  entertainment,  the  hotel  proprietor 
accompanied  us,  and  we  were  joined  on  our  way  by  an  agreeable  young 
gentleman  who  had  introduced  himself  to  us  in  the  early  part  of  the  day 
as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Reception  of  the  Press.  I  had  cer- 
tain uneasy  suspicions  that  there  was  going  to  be  some  kind  of  show 
made  of  the  unostentatious,  quiet  gentleman  who  was  sauntering  along, 
smoking  his  cigar,  side  by  side  with  the  spirited  hotelkeeper.  These 
were  not  appeased  when,  on  entering  the  theater,  I  perceived  unmis- 
takable officials,  managers,  box-keepers,  and  the  like,  drawn  up  in  the 
manner  of  a  deputation.  It  was  half  an  hour  behind  time,  but  the  play 
had  not  yet  commenced — they  were  waiting  for  the  Duke.  As  he  passed 
along  by  the  pit  tier  to  the  stage  box  reserved  for  his  use,  every  eye  was 
directed  upon  him;  and  when  he  entered — awful  moment — the  orchestra 
struck  up,  amidst  applause  from  the  gallery  and  thumping  of  umbrellas 
and  sticks,  and  clapping  of  hands,  "God  Save  the  Queen."  What  it  was 
expected  his  Grace  should  do  I  know  not.  It  was  exceedingly  embar- 
rassing, and  all  we  could  do  was  to  sit  tight  and  take  no  notice.  No 
doubt  it  was  intended  as  a  compliment,  and  very  kindly  meant,  but  it 
was  most  trying,  and  only  the  hotel  proprietor  and  the  Chairman  of  the 
Reception  Committee  of  the  Press  were  at  all  at  their  ease  at  that 
moment.  The  play  proved  an  exceedingly  interesting  national  piece; 
not  very  probable  in  all  the  incidents,  but  still  giving  a  very  fair  idea  of 
the  general  attitude  of  the  American  mind  in  its  relation  to  Mormonism, 


230  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

and  tending  to  bring  into  deserved  contempt  the  disciples  and  practices 
of  that  most  outrageous  creed. 

[May  22nd.]  The  Chicago  Times  of  Saturday  contained  the  greater 
part  of  the  revised  New  Testament,  telegraphed  from  New  York.  The 
Chicago  Tribune  of  Sunday  (to-day)  presents  its  readers  with  the 
whole  of  the  Revised  Testament,  complete  from  beginning  to  end. 

We  had  a  very  pleasant  dinner,  at  which  General  Sheridan,  General 
M'Dowell,  and  General  Forsyth  assisted.  It  was  a  relief  to  get  away 
for  a  little  from  grain  averages  and  railway  statistics,  but  these  are  rare 
escapades  from  the  study  of  material  interests.  The  subsidence  of  the 
mass  of  combatants  which  the  Civil  War  summoned  to  the  field  north 
and  south  from  civil  life  into  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  citizens  was  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  phenomena  of  the  contest.  I  find  my  old  friends 
have  beaten  their  swords  into  all  kinds  of  peaceful  implements.  One 
day  General  McClellan  writes  to  me  from  a  railway  office  in  New  Jersey 
to  say  he  is  on  the  eve  of  a  voyage  to  Europe.  Now  I  get  a  letter  from 
"Bangs  and  Kirkland,  attorneys-at-law,  142,  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago," 
dated  May  9th,  which  puzzled  me  a  little  till  I  read  the  text  and  the 
well-known  signature  of  "Joseph  Kirkland,"  recalling  the  old  days  of 
the  army  and  headquarters  of  the  Potomac  in  1861,  and  remembered  the 
martial  major  who  was  my  frequent  companion  in  excursions  about  the 
camps  around  Washington.4 

[May  2jrd.} — The  Duke  and  most  of  the  party  started  at  8.30  to 
inspect  the  Pullman  car  factory.  The  town  is  called  Hyde  Park,  South 
Chicago,  Calumet,  Grand  Crossing,  and  Kensington — and  lies  upon  the 
outside  of  the  great  city,  nine  miles  distant.  Nine  months  ago,  accord- 
ing to  a  Chicago  paper,  there  was  not  a  single  trace  of  an  industrial 
habitation  upon  the  spot,  and  for  five  months  of  the  subsequent  time 
there  was  one  of  the  most  severe  winters  on  record;  but  in  April  the 
largest  engine  in  the  world,  as  we  were  told,  was  started  as  the  central 
motive  power  of  one  of  the  most  extensive  manufacturing  schemes  of 
the  world.  The  Corliss  Centennial  Exhibition  engine,  which  was  built 
at  a  cost  of  25,ooo£,  was  set  to  work  with  its  24,000  horsepower,  to  give 
life  to  the  machinery  which  had  been  erected  by  the  enterprise  of  Colonel 
Pullman;  and  since  that  time  a  city  of  freight  shops,  hammer  shops, 
equipment  buildings,  lumber  storehouses,  foundries,  brickworks,  with 

'Joseph  Kirkland  (1830-94)  came  to  Chicago  as  a  young  man  in  1856.  In  1861  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Twelfth  Illinois  Infantry;  in  time  he  became  aid-de-camp  on  the 
staffs  of  General  McClellan  and  General  Porter,  in  which  connection,  evidently,  he  came  in 
contact  with  Russell.  In  his  later  years  he  turned  his  attention  to  literary  pursuits,  being  . 
literary  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  for  several  years,  and  author  of  a  number  of  novels 
and  historical  works. 


A  GREAT  REPORTER'S  OBSERVATIONS  231 

railway  tracks  to  connect  them,  gas-houses,  artesian  wells,  and  wide  and 
long  ranges  of  streets  round  the  central  depot,  have  sprung  up  in  Pull- 
man; and  locomotive  works  are  also  busy  in  connection  with  the  rolling 
mills  and  iron-dale  mills  which  are  connected  with  the  town  of  Pullman 
by  water,  rail,  and  wagon  roads.  The  sentiment  of  wonder  is  taxed 
when  one  visits  this  great  American  enterprise.  It  is  said  that  before 
the  year  is  over  ten  thousand  people  will  be  comfortably  housed  and 
living  in  this  city,  the  work  of  a  few  weeks.  No  wonder  that  the  Chi- 
cago people  are  enthusiastic  about  their  city,  though  they  are  apt  to  be 
somewhat  tiresome  in  the  details  which  they  give  of  its  greatness.  "I 
have  sometimes  tried,"  said  one  of  them,  "when  I  was  traveling  about, 
to  invent  some  fabulous  story  to  relate  about  Chicago;  but  when  I 
woke  up  in  the  morning  I  always  found  that  the  progress  made  had 
exceeded  the  wildest  fabrication  I  could  think  of."  Twenty-five  cars  a 
day  will  be  turned  out  when  the  works  are  in  full  swing.  The  most 
interesting  operation,  perhaps,  was  the  manufacture  of  paper  wheels 
intended  to  take  the  place  of  iron  in  all  railway,  and  which  are  already 
used  by  the  Pullman  cars.  The  paper  is  made  of  wood,  which  is  cut  on 
the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  is  brought  to  the  works,  reduced  to  pulp, 
and  under  hydraulic  pressure  is  made  as  hard  as  granite,  and  perfectly 
impenetrable  by  air  or  water.  It  is  sheathed  with  a  steel  band,  which 
holds  it  like  a  vice,  and  it  is  cheaper  and  more  lasting  than  iron. 

The  thermometer  at  88  degrees  in  the  shade,  and  the  temperometer 
higher  still.  For  there  are  thorns  in  the  flesh,  and  trials,  small  though  they 
be,  to  vex  the  spirit.  Some  there  are  who  can  endure  interviewing  without 
wincing,  others  who  laugh  at  evil  or  good  reports;  but  there  are  people 
who  fret  and  fume  at  obstinate  inquisition,  and  who  are  indignant  at 
misrepresentation.  These  latter  should  stay  at  home.  If  one  of  these 
writes  a  letter  marked  "private"  to  the  editor  of  a  newspaper,  he  may 
be  vexed  if  he  sees  it  in  print,  with  the  word  "private"  omitted.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  peculiarities  which  invited  comment  in  times 
past  have  nearly  disappeared — I  mean  manners  and  customs  connected 
with  tobacco  and  its  uses.  Not  only  that — the  burning  curiosity  which 
proved  so  troublesome  to  thin-skinned  strangers  appears  to  have  been 
slaked  by  copious  indulgence.  Americans  no  longer  care  to  know,  or  at 
least  disdain  to  ask,  "Well,  sir;  and  what  do  you  think  of  our  country?" 
They  feel  that  they  have  a  country  which  travelers  must  recognise  as 
one  of  the  first  in  the  world.  However,  I  think  an  American  is  not 
always  pleased  when  an  Englishman,  tired  out,  perhaps,  by  the  strain 
which  a  continual  demand  upon  his  power  of  expressing  surprise  involves, 
meekly  intimates  that  there  is  something  of  the  same  sort  to  be  seen  in 


232  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

the  Old  Country.  The  other  day,  when  we  were  taken  out  on  the  lake 
at  Chicago,  and  asked  to  admire  the  water,  which  was  not  particularly 
clear,  I  remarked  that  the  water  supply  of  London,  with  its  three  millions 
and  a  half  of  people,  and  no  lake  at  all,  was  rather  creditable.  The 
worthy  Mayor  was  at  once  antagonistic  "Where  do  you  get  your  water?" 
"From  the  various  water  companies — the  New  River,  the  Chelsea,"  &c. 
The  Mayor  next  day,  at  a  public  meeting,  congratulated  the  people  of 
Chicago  that  they  were  not  supplied  with  such  water  as  London  had  to 
put  up  with,  "where,"  he  said,  "I  am  told  it  comes  from  Chelsea,  which 
is  one  of  the  filthiest  places  in  the  world." 

By  this  time  the  whole  party  has  got  into  working  order;  Lady 
Green,  as  a  soldier's  wife,  sets  an  excellent  example  of  punctuality  and 
ready-packed-up-edness,  no  matter  how  early  the  start  may  be.  It  is 
a  large  party,  but,  by  reason  of  its  discipline,  very  easy  to  move.  And 
so,  notwithstanding  the  work  in  the  early  morning  nine  miles  away, 
we  were  all  ready  at  the  terminus  of  the  Shore  Line  by  noon  to  strike  out 
for  the  West  by  the  rail  which  runs  by  Lake  Michigan,  halting  first  at 
Milwaukee,  eighty  miles  away. 

The  Americans  have  many  things  to  be  grateful  for  on  the  vast 
continent  of  which  they  own  so  goodly  a  share,  especially  the  natural 
facilities  which  they  possess  for  turning  the  development  of  their  energies 
to  account;  and  among  these,  next,  perhaps,  to  the  navigable  rivers 
opening  up  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  States  to  the  sea,  is  the  series 
of  lakes  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  central  mountain  ridges, 
affording  the  most  admirable  intercommunication  between  the  great 
cities  which  are  growing  up  on  their  shores  and  the  corn-growing  and 
stock-producing  regions  which  extend  far  away  on  either  side  of  them. 

Perchance  farther  out  from  the  shore,  under  the  influence  of  a 
brighter  sky,  they  may  be  blue,  but  certainly  the  waves  that  broke  on 
the  beach  were  muddy  and  the  river  flowing  into  the  lake  at  Milwaukee, 
which  is  visible  from  the  train,  is  exceedingly  filthy.  Only  comparisons 
are  odious,  I  would  say  that  it  looked  as  vile  as  that  at  Chicago.  It 
needs  a  strong  sense  of  the  picturesque  and  beautiful  to  tolerate  the 
waters  of  the  Venetian  canals  in  summer  time,  but  here,  without  any 
compensation,  there  are  the  odors  and  the  nastiness  which  one  would 
more  willingly  encounter  in  paying  homage  to  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic 
in  July  or  August. 

On  the  lake  were  many  sailing  vessels  with  snowy  cotton  canvas, 
the  intermediate  belt  of  land  being  thickly  populated,  rich,  well  culti- 
vated, and  prettily  wooded.  Now  and  then  a  huge  steamer  came  in 
view,  vomiting  masses  of  smoke,  too  common  a  disfigurement  of  these 


A  GREAT  REPORTER'S  OBSERVATIONS  233 

pure  skies,  for  neither  on  shore  nor  on  the  river  do  they  burn  it.  Chicago 
is  almost  as  black  and  smoky  as  Birmingham.  Racine  seemed  to  have 
its  full  share  of  prosperity  and  manufacturing  industry,  but  Milwaukee, 
which  we  reached  at  2.20  P.  M.,  added  one  of  the  many  surprises  which 
our  party  encountered  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  W.  Mitchell,  who 
came  from  Aberdeen  some  forty  odd  years  ago,  one  of  the  chief  men  of 
the  place,  in  company  with  other  gentlemen,  met  the  Duke  of  Suther- 
land, and  drove  us  through  the  city.  It  contrasted  very  favorably  in 
the  cleanliness  of  the  streets  and  the  general  appearance  of  unadulterated 
well-doing  of  the  population  with  Chicago — a  crowning  glory  to  Mr. 
Mitchell,  and  those  like  him  who  remember  the  town  as  a  toddling,  wee 
hamlet,  and  see  it  now  flourishing  and  opulent,  with  its  50,000  inhabi- 
tants. 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR,  1893 

(From  "Outre-Mer,  Impressions  of  America"  by  Paul  Bourget,  published 

by  T.  Fisher  Unwiri) 

CHICAGO  IN  AN  AUTUMN  MORNING  FROM  THE  TOWER  OF  THE  AUDITORIUM 

T  is  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet  high,  and  it  crowns  and 
dominates  a  chaotic  cyclopean  structure  which  connects  a 
colossal  hotel  with  a  colossal  theater.  One's  first  visit  on 
5^|^j^  arriving  should  be  here,  in  order  to  get  the  strongest  impres- 
sion of  the  enormous  city,  lying  black  on  the  shore  of  its  blue  lake. 

Last  night  when  the  conductor  called  out  the  name  of  the  station 
at  which  I  was  to  leave  the  train,  a  frightful  storm,  such  as  one  experi- 
ences nowhere  but  in  America,  was  deluging  the  whole  country  with 
cataracts  of  water,  and  between  the  station  and  the  hotel  I  could  see 
nothing  but  the  outlines  of  gigantic  buildings  hanging,  as  it  were,  from 
a  dark  sky  streaked  with  lightning,  and  between  them  small  wooden 
houses,  so  frail  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  furious  wind  must  scatter  their 
ruins  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  tempest-tossed  city. 

This  morning  the  sky  is  clear,  with  a  soft,  warm  clearness,  washed 
clean  by  the  rain.  It  brings  out  all  the  more  strikingly  the  dark  color- 
ing of  the  city,  as  it  is  reflected  back  from  the  deeper  azure  of  Lake 
Michigan,  ploughed  with  steamboats  like  a  sea.  Far  as  the  eye  can 
reach  Chicago  stretches  away,  its  flat  roofs  and  its  smoke — innumerable 
columns  of  whitey-gray  smoke.  They  rise  straight  upward,  then  stoop 
to  heap  themselves  into  vapory  capitals,  and  at  last  meet  together  in  a 
dome  above  the  endless  avenues. 

It  needs  but  a  few  minutes  for  the  eye  to  become  accustomed  to  the 
strange  scene.  Then  you  discern  differences  of  height  among  these 
levels.  Those  of  only  six  or  seven  stories  seem  to  be  the  merest  cottages, 
those  of  two  stories  are  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  pavement, 
while  the  "buildings"  of  fourteen,  fifteen,  twenty  stories,  uprise  like  the 
islands  of  the  Cyclades  as  seen  from  the  mountains  of  Negroponte. 

A  mighty  murmur  uprises  from  below  like  that  of  no  other  city. 
There  is  an  incessant  tinkle  of  locomotive  bells,  that  seem  to  be  sounding 


236  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

in  advance  the  knell  of  those  they  are  about  to  crush.  They  are  every- 
where, crossing  the  streets,  following  the  lake  shore,  passing  over  the 
river  which  rolls  its  leaden  waters  under  soot-colored  bridges,  meeting 
and  crossing  each  other's  tracks,  pursuing  and  overtaking  one  another. 
Now  you  distinguish  an  elevated  road,  and  there,  beside  the  railways 
on  the  level  street,  you  see  other  trains  on  the  avenues,  three  or  four 
cars  long,  but  without  locomotive.  It  is  the  cable  system.  And  there 
are  steamers  lowering  their  yards  and  coming  to  anchor  in  the  harbor. 

Yes,  the  scene  is  strange  even  to  unreality,  when  one  reminds  one- 
self that  this  Babel  of  industry  grew  out  of  a  tiny  frontier  post, — Fort 
Dearborn.  The  Indians  surprised  it  and  massacred  the  garrison  about 
1812.  I  am  not  very  far  beyond  my  youth,  and  yet  how  many  men  have 
I  known  that  were  alive  then,  and  how  near  that  date  is!  In  1871,  that 
is  to  say,  later  than  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  there  was  fire  writhing 
around  this  very  place  where  I  am  standing  this  bright  morning.  The 
irresistible  devouring  force  of  one  of  the  most  terrific  conflagrations 
mentioned  in  history  transformed  this  entire  plain  into  a  burning  mass 
which  still  smoked  after  many  days  had  passed. 

"Where  this  tower  now  stands,"  said  my  Chicago  guide,  concluding 
the  epos  of  that  awful  event,  "y°u  might  have  stood  in  a  bed  of  ashes, 
with  not  a  single  house  between  the  lake  on  your  right  hand  and  the  river 
on  your  left." 

I  looked  from  one  to  the  other,  the  river  and  the  lake,  as  I  heard 
these  words.  That  month  of  October,  1871,  was  more  than  near  to  me; 
it  seemed  as  if  I  could  touch  it,  as  if  I  were  still  in  it.  I  could  tell  the 
names  of  the  books  that  I  was  reading  then,  the  articles  that  I  was 
writing.  I  could  remember  how  I  spent  almost  every  day.  I  realized 
with  an  almost  physical  accuracy  the  length  of  the  years  since  that  date, 
— twenty-two.  How  few  hours  that  makes,  after  all !  and  I  leaned  again 
over  the  balustrade  of  the  tower,  gazing  down  upon  this  prodigy,  stunned 
with  the  thought  of  what  men  have  done! 

Men!  The  word  is  hardly  correct  applied  to  this  perplexing  city. 
When  you  study  it  more  in  detail,  its  aspect  reveals  so  little  of  the  personal 
will,  so  little  caprice  and  individuality,  in  its  streets  and  buildings,  that  it 
seems  like  the  work  of  some  impersonal  power,  irresistible,  unconscious,  like 
a  force  of  nature,  in  whose  service  man  was  merely  a  passive  instrument. 

This  power  is  nothing  else  than  that  business  fever  which  here 
throbs  at  will,  with  an  unbridled  violence  like  that  of  an  uncontrollable 
element.  It  rushes  along  these  streets,  as  once  before  the  devouring 
flame  of  fire;  it  quivers;  it  makes  itself  visible  with  an  intensity  which 
lends  something  tragical  to  this  city,  and  makes  it  seem  like  a  poem  to  me. 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  237 

When,  from  this  overhanging  tower,  you  have  gazed  down  upon  this 
immense  volcano  of  industry  and  commerce,  you  go  down  to  look  more 
closely  into  the  details  of  this  exuberant  life,  this  exhaustless  stream  of 
activity.  You  walk  along  the  sidewalks  of  streets  which  bear  marks  of 
haste, — here  flagstones,  there  asphalt,  yonder  a  mere  line  of  planks 
crossing  a  miry  swamp.  This  want  of  continuity  in  road  material  is 
repeated  in  the  buildings.  At  one  moment  you  have  nothing  around 
you  but  "buildings."  They  scale  the  very  heavens  with  their  eighteen 
and  twenty  stories.  The  architect  who  built  them,  or  rather,  made  them 
by  machinery,  gave  up  all  thought  of  colonnades,  mouldings,  classical 
decorations.  He  ruthlessly  accepted  the  speculator's  inspired  conditions, 
—to  multiply  as  much  as  possible  the  value  of  the  bit  of  earth  at  the  base 
by  multiplying  the  superimposed  "offices." 

One  might  think  that  such  a  problem  would  interest  no  one  but  an 
engineer.  Nothing  of  the  kind!  The  simple  power  of  necessity  is  to  a 
certain  degree  a  principle  of  beauty;  and  these  structures  so  plainly 
manifest  this  necessity  that  you  feel  a  strange  emotion  in  contemplating 
them.  It  is  the  first  draught  of  a  new  sort  of  art, — an  art  of  democracy 
made  by  the  masses  and  for  the  masses,  an  art  of  science,  where  the 
invariability  of  natural  laws  gives  to  the  most  unbridled  daring  the 
calmness  of  geometrical  figures.  The  portals  of  the  basements,  usually 
arched  as  if  crushed  beneath  the  weight  of  the  mountain  which  they 
support,  look  like  dens  of  a  primitive  race,  continually  receiving  and  pour- 
ing forth  a  stream  of  people.  You  lift  your  eyes,  and  you  feel  that  up 
there  behind  the  perpendicular  wall,  with  its  innumerable  windows,  is 
a  multitude  coming  and  going, — crowding  the  offices  that  perforate  these 
cliffs  of  bricks  and  iron,  dizzied  with  the  speed  of  the  elevators.  You 
divine,  you  feel  the  hot  breath  of  speculation  quivering  behind  these 
windows.  This  it  is  which  has  fecundated  these  thousands  of  square 
feet  of  earth,  in  order  that  from  them  may  spring  up  this  appalling 
growth  of  business  palaces,  that  hide  the  sun  from  you  and  almost  shut 
out  the  light  of  day. 

Close  beside  the  preposterous,  Babel-like  building  extends  a  shape- 
less bit  of  ground,  undefined,  bristling,  green  with  a  scanty  turf,  on  which 
a  lean  cow  is  feeding.  Then  follows  a  succession  of  little  wooden  houses, 
hardly  large  enough  for  a  single  family.  Next  comes  a  Gothic  church, 
transformed  into  a  shop,  with  a  sign  in  great  metal  characters.  Then 
comes  the  red  and  pretentious  ruin  of  some  other  building  burned  the 
other  week.  Vacant  lots,  shanties,  churches,  ruins, — speculation  will 
sweep  over  it  all  tomorrow,  this  evening  perhaps,  and  other  "buildings" 
will  spring  up.  But  time  is  needed,  and  these  people  have  none.  These 


238  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

two  years  past,  instead  of  completing  their  half-finished  city,  they  have 
been  amusing  themselves  in  building  another  over  yonder,  under  pre- 
text of  their  exhibition.  It  is  entirely  white,  a  dream  city,  with  domes 
like  those  of  Ravenna,  colonnades  like  those  at  Rome,  lagoons  like 
Venice,  a  fair  of  the  world  like  Paris. 

They  have  succeeded,  and  now  the  most  composite,  the  most 
cosmopolitan  of  human  mixtures  fill  these  suburban  and  elevated  rail- 
ways, these  cable  cars,  coaches,  carriages,  which  overflow  upon  these 
unfinished  sidewalks  before  these  wildly  dissimilar  houses.  And  as  at 
Chicago,  it  seems  that  everything  and  everybody  must  be  larger,  more 
developed,  stronger,  so  from  block  to  block  in  the  middle  of  these  streets 
are  posted,  to  maintain  order,  enormous  mounted  policemen,  tall  as 
Pomeranian  grenadiers;  gigantic  human  barriers  against  which  break 
the  seething  eddies  of  this  multitude.  Most  of  them  are  Germans;  their 
red  faces  are  unformed  as  if  hewn  out  with  a  hatchet,  as  if  hastily  blocked 
out,  and  their  bullock-like  necks  and  shoulders  make  a  striking  comment 
on  divers  facts  of  the  daily  papers,  which  continually  tell  of  some  "hands 
up"  performed  in  Ithe  taverns,  the  gambling  houses,  or  simply  in  a 
carriage,  or  on  the  tramway. 

"Hands  up!"  It  is  the  classic  command  of  the  Western  robber,  as 
he  enters,  revolver  in  hand,  his  first  business  to  make  sure  that  you  have 
not  yours.  How  many  times  has  it  been  uttered  in  the  suburbs  of  this 
city,  the  meeting-place  of  the  adventurers  of  the  two  worlds?  How 
many  times  will  it  yet  be  uttered?  But  the  spirit  of  adventure  is  also 
the  spirit  of  enterprise,  and  if  the  size  of  the  policemen  of  this  surprising 
city  attests  the  frequency  of  surprises  attempted  by  these  ruffians,  it 
completes  its  complex  physiognomy;  different,  surely,  from  every  other 
since  the  foundation  of  the  world,  a  mosaic  of  extreme  civilization  and 
almost  barbarism,  a  savage  existence  only  part  discerned  through 
the  abruptness  of  this  industrial  creation.  In  short,  it  is  Chicago,  a 
miracle  that  would  confound  the  dead  of  seventy  years  ago,  if  they  were 
to  return  to  earth  and  find  themselves  in  this  city,  now  the  ninth  in  the 
world  as  to  population,  which  when  they  were  alive  had  not  a  single  house. 

One  of  the  enormous  branches  of  traffic  of  this  city  is  in  meat.  The 
Chicago  folk  are  a  little  ashamed  of  it.  In  earlier  days  they  would  talk 
to  you  of  their  packing  houses,  with  that  artless  pride  which  is  one  of 
the  charms  of  great  parvenus.  It  is  the  simplicity  natural  to  an  ele- 
mental strength,  which  knows  itself  strong  and  loves  to  exercise  itself 
frankly.  They  are  tired  now  of  hearing  their  detractors  call  them  the 
inhabitants  of  Porkopolis.  They  find  it  a  grievance  that  their  city  is 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  239 

always  "identified,"  as  they  say  here,  with  that  brutal  butchery,  when  it 
has  among  its  publishing  houses  one  of  the  vastest  marts  of  books  in 
the  world,  when  its  newspapers  never  let  any  incident  of  literature  or 
art  pass  without  investigating  it,  when  it  has  founded  a  university  at  a 
cost  of  seven  millions  of  dollars,  when  it  has  just  gathered  together 
representatives  of  all  forms  of  belief,  at  its  remarkable  Parliament  of 
Religions, — a  phenomenon  unique  in  the  history  of  human  idealism! 
Chicago  aspires  to  be  something  more  than  the  distributor  of  food, 
although  last  year  a  single  one  of  its  firms  cut  up  and  distributed  one 
million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  hogs,  a  million  and  twenty-five 
thousand  beeves,  and  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  sheep. 
Its  enemies  seek  to  crush  it  under  figures  like  these,  omitting  to  remember 
that  the  Chicago  of  the  abattoirs  is  also  the  Chicago  of  the  "White  City," 
the  Chicago  of  a  museum  which  is  already  incomparable,  the  Chicago 
which  gave  Lincoln  to  the  United  States. 

On  the  other  hand,  these  abattoirs  furnish  material  most  precious 
to  the  foreigner  who  desires  to  understand  the  spirit  in  which  the  Ameri- 
cans undertake  their  great  enterprises.  A  slaughter-house  capable 
of  shipping  in  twelve  months,  to  the  four  parts  of  this  immense  continent, 
three  millions  five  hundred  thousand  dressed  cattle  is  worth  the  trouble 
of  investigating.  Everywhere  else  the  technical  details  are  very  difficult 
to  grasp.  They  are  less  so  here,  the  directors  of  these  colossal  manu- 
factories of  roast  beef  and  hams  having  discovered  that  the  best  possible 
advertisement  is  to  admit  the  public  to  witness  their  processes  of  work- 
ing. They  have  made  a  visit  to  their  establishments,  if  not  attractive, — 
physical  repulsion  is  too  strong  for  that, — at  least  convenient  and 
thorough.  On  condition  of  having  your  nerves  wrung  once  for  all, 
these  are  among  the  places  where  you  shall  best  see  how  American 
ingenuity  solves  the  problems  of  a  prodigiously  complicated  organization. 

I  therefore  did  like  other  unprejudiced  tourists,  and  visited  the 
"stock  yards"  and  the  most  celebrated  among  the  "packing  houses," 
as  they  are  called, — cutting-up  houses,  rather, — which  is  here  in  opera- 
tion; the  one,  indeed^  the  statistics  of  whose  operations  I  have  but  now 
quoted.  This  walk  through  that  house  of  blood  will  always  remain  to 
me  one  of  the  most  singular  memories  of  my  journey.  I  think,  however, 
that  I  owe  to  it  a  better  discernment  of  the  characteristic  features  of  an 
American  business  concern.  If  this  is  so,  I  shall  have  no  reason  to  regret 
the  painful  experience. 

To  reach  the  "Union  Stock  Yards,"  the  carriage  crosses  an  im- 
mense section  of  the  city,  even  more  incoherent  than  those  which  border 


240  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

on  the  elegant  Michigan  Avenue.  It  stops  before  the  railways,  to  per- 
mit the  passage  of  trains  running  at  full  speed.  It  crosses  bridges, 
which  immediately  after  uprear  themselves  to  permit  the  passage  of 
boats.  It  passes  by  hotels  which  are  palaces,  and  laborers'  houses  which 
are  hovels.  It  skirts  large  plots  of  ground,  where  market  gardeners  are 
cultivating  cabbages  amongst  heaps  of  refuse,  and  others  which  bear 
nothing  but  advertisements.  How  shall  I  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of 
copying  this  one,  among  a  hundred  others: — 

"Louis  XIV.  was  crowned  King  of  France  at  the  age  of  five  years 

(1643).     X — 's  pepsin  had  been  crowned  with  success  as  a  remedy 

for  indigestion  before  it  had  been  publicly  known  a  single  year." 

The  advertising  fields  give  place  to  more  houses,  more  railways, 
under  a  sky  black  with  clouds,  or  smoke, — one  hardly  knows  which,— 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  road  begin  to  appear  fenced  enclosures,  where 
cattle  are  penned  by  the  hundred.  There  are  narrow  lanes  between  the 
fence,  with  men  on  horseback  riding  up  and  down.  These  are  the 
buyers,  discussing  prices  with  the  "cowboys"  of  the  West. 

You  have  read  stories  of  the  "ranches."  This  adventurous  prairie 
life  has  taken  hold  upon  your  imagination.  Here  you  behold  its  heroes, 
in  threadbare  overcoats,  slouch  hats,  and  the  inevitable  collar  and  cuffs 
of  the  American.  But  for  their  boots,  and  their  dexterity  in  guiding 
their  horses  by  the  knees,  you  would  take  them  for  clerks.  They  are 
a  proof,  among  mahy  others,  of  the  instinctive  disdain  of  this  realistic 
people  for  the  picturesque  in  costume.  That  impression  which  I  had  in 
the  park  in  New  York,  almost  the  first  day,  as  of  an  immense  store  of 
ready-made  clothes  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  has  never  left  me. 
And  yet,  nothing  can  be  less  "common,"  in  the  bad  sense  of  the  word, 
than  Americans  in  general,  and  these  Western  cowboys  in  particular. 
Their  bodies  are  too  nervous,  too  lithe,  under  their  cheap  clothes.  Their 
countenances,  especially,  are  too  intent  and  too  sharply  outlined,  too 
decided  and  too  stern. 

The  carriage  stops  before  a  building  which,  in  its  massiveness  and 
want  of  character,  is  like  all  other  manufactories.  My  companions 
and  I  enter  a  court,  a  sort  of  alley,  crowded  with  packing  boxes,  carts,  and 
people.  A  miniature  railway  passes  along  it,  carrying  packing  boxes 
to  a  waiting  train,  entirely  composed  of  refrigerator  cars,  such  as  I  saw 
so  many  of  as  I  came  to  Chicago.  Laborers  were  unloading  these 
packing  boxes;  others  were  coming  and  going,  evidently  intent  upon 
their  respective  duties.  There  was  no  sign  of  administrative  order,  as 
we  conceive  it,  in  this  establishment,  which  was  yet  so  well  ordered. 
But  already  one  of  the  engineers  had  led  us  up  a  staircase,  and  we  enter 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  241 

an  immense  hall,  reeking  with  heavy  moisture,  saturated  with  a  strong 
acrid  odor,  which  seems  to  seize  you  by  the  throat.  We  are  in  the 
department  where  the  hogs  are  cut  up.  There  are  hundreds  of  men 
hard  at  work,  whom  we  have  not  time  so  much  as  to  look  at.  Our 
guide  warns  us  to  stand  aside,  and  before  us  glides  a  file  of  porkers, 
disemboweled  and  hung  by  their  hind  feet  from  a  rod,  along  which 
they  slip  toward  a  vaulted  opening,  where  innumerable  other  such 
files  await  them.  The  rosy  flesh,  still  ruddy  with  the  life  that  but  now 
animated  them,  gleams  under  the  electric  light  that  illuminates  those 
depths.  We  go  on,  avoiding  these  strange  encounters  as  best  we  may, 
and  reach  at  last,  with  feet  smeared  in  a  sort  of  bloody  mud,  a  platform 
whence  we  can  see  the  initial  act  of  all  this  labor,  which  now  seems  so 
confused,  but  which  we  shall  shortly  find  so  simple  and  easy  to  under- 
stand. There  are  the  pigs,  in  a  sort  of  pit,  alive,  grunting  and  scream- 
ing, as  if  they  had  a  vision  of  the  approach  of  the  horrible  machine,  from 
which  they  can  no  more  escape  than  a  doomed  man  whose  head  lies  on 
the  guillotine.  It  is  a  sort  of  movable  hook,  which,  being  lowered  by  a 
man,  seizes  one  of  the  creatures  by  the  cord  which  ties  its  hind  legs 
together.  The  animal  gives  a  screech,  as  he  hangs,  head  downward, 
with  quivering  snout  and  a  spasmodic  agitation  of  its  short  fore  legs. 
But  already  the  hook  has  slid  along  the  iron  bar,  carrying  the  hapless 
victim  to  a  neighboring  recess  where,  as  it  slips  by,  a  man  armed  with  a 
long  knife  cuts  its  throat,  with  a  slash  so  well  aimed  and  effective  that 
there  is  no  need  to  repeat  it.  The  creature  utters  a  more  terrific  screech, 
a  stream  of  blood  spurts  out,  jet  black  and  as  thick  as  your  arm.  The 
snout  quivers  more  pitifully,  the  short  legs  are  agitated  more  frantically, 
but  the  death  struggle  only  quickens  the  motion  of  the  hook,  which 
glides  on  to  a  third  attendant. 

The  latter,  with  a  quick  movement,  cuts  down  the  animal.  The 
hook  slides  back,  and  the  carcass  falls  into  a  sort  of  canal  tank  filled 
with  boiling  water,  in  which  an  automatic  rake  works  with  a  quick 
vibratory  motion.  In  a  few  seconds  it  has  caught  the  creature,  turned 
it  over  and  over,  caught  it  again,  and  thrown  the  scalded  carcass  to 
another  machine,  which  in  a  few  more  seconds  has  shaved  it  from  head 
to  tail.  In  another  second,  another  hook  has  descended,  and  another 
bar  carries  that  which,  four  minutes  ago,  was  a  living,  suffering  creature, 
toward  that  arched  opening  where,  on  coming  in,  I  had  seen  so  many 
similar  relics.  It  is  already  the  turn  of  another  to  be  killed,  shaved  and 
finished  off.  The  operation  is  of  such  lightning  quickness  that  you  have 
no  time  to  realize  its  atrocity.  You  have  no  time  to  pity  the  poor  things, 
no  time  to  marvel  at  the  cheerfulness  with  which  the  butcher — a  red- 


242  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

headed  giant,  with  shoulders  broad  enough  to  carry  an  ox — goes  on 
with  his  horrible  work. 

And  yet,  even  in  its  lower  forms,  life  is  something  so  mysterious, 
the  death  and  sufferings,  even  of  a  creature  of  the  humblest  order,  are 
something  so  tragic  when,  instead  of  carelessly  picturing  them  you 
look  them  thus  full  in  the  face,  that  all  spectators,  and  they  are  many, 
cease  to  laugh  and  joke.  For  my  part,  before  this  coarse  slaughter-house 
scene  I  felt  myself  seized  with  an  unreasoning  sadness,  very  short  but 
very  intense,  as  if,  for  a  few  minutes,  the  spirit  of  Thomas  Graindorge 
had  passed  before  me, — the  philosophic  dealer  in  salt  and  pork  oil,  so 
dear  to  my  master,  Taine.  It  suddenly  seemed  as  if  I  saw  before  me 
existence  itself,  and  all  the  work  of  nature,  incarnated  in  a  pitiable 
symbol.  All  that  I  had  often  thought  of  death  was  as  if  concrete  before 
my  eyes,  in  the  irresistible  clutch  of  that  hook  lifting  those  creatures, 
as  the  overpowering  force  of  destruction  which  is  in  the  world  will  one 
day  seize  us  all, — sages,  heroes,  artists,  as  well  as  these  poor  unconscious 
brutes.  I  saw  them  rushing,  writhing,  moaning,  their  death  agonies 
following  fast  on  one  another,  as  ours  follow  one  another,  only  a  little 
more  rapidly, — how  little  more,  considering  how  fast  time  flies,  and  how 
small  a  part  remains  for  all  that  must  be  done!  And  the  way  that  we 
looked  in  at  this  ghastly  scene,  my  companions  and  I,  was  in  nothing 
different  from  the  way  with  which  others  will  one  day  look  on  at  our 
entrance  into  the  great  darkness,  as  on  a  picture,  a  something  exterior, 
whose  reality,  after  all,  concerns  only  the  being  who  undergoes  it! 

We  went  into  the  department  reserved  for  the  cattle.  Here  the 
death  struggle  is  different.  No  outcry,  almost  no  blood;  no  terrified 
expectation  on  the  creature's  part.  And  the  scene  is  all  the  more 
tragic.  The  animals  are  penned  by  twos,  in  stalls  like  those  of  a  stable, 
though  without  the  manger.  You  see  them  trying,  with  their  intelli- 
gence and  their  gentleness,  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  narrow 
space.  They  gazed  with  their  large,  soft  eyes — upon  whom?  The 
butcher,  standing  in  a  passageway  a  little  above  them.  This  man  holds 
in  his  hand  a  slender  bludgeon  of  steel.  He  is  waiting  until  the  ox  is  in 
the  right  position.  You  see  him  gently,  caressingly,  guiding  the  animal 
with  the  tip  of  his  bludgeon.  Suddenly  he  uplifts  it.  It  falls  upon  the 
creature's  forehead,  and  it  sinks  down  in  a  lifeless  heap. 

In  an  instant  a  hook  has  lifted  it  up,  blood  pouring  from  the  mouth 
and  nostrils,  its  large  glassy  eyes  overshadowed  with  a  growing  darkness, 
and  within  another  minute  another  man  has  stripped  the  skin  from  the 
breast,  letting  it  hang  down  like  an  apron,  has  cut  open  the  carcass, 
and  sent  it  by  the  expeditious  method  of  the  sliding  bar,  to  take  its  place 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  243 

in  the  refrigerating-room.  Thousands  of  them  await  here  the  time  for 
being  carried  and  hung  up  in  other  rooms,  also  of  ice,  but  on  wheels, 
ready  to  be  despatched.  I  see  the  closing  of  the  last  car  of  a  train  on 
the  point  of  departure.  The  locomotive  whistles  and  puffs;  the  bell 
rings.  On  what  table  of  New  York  or  Boston,  Philadelphia  or  Savannah, 
will  at  last  appear  this  meat,  fattened  on  the  prairie  pasture-lands  of 
some  district  in  some  Western  state,  and  here  prepared  in  such  a  way 
that  the  butcher  will  have  merely  to  cut  it  into  pieces?  It  will  arrive 
as  fresh,  as  intact,  as  if  there  had  not  been  thousands  and  thousands  of 
miles  between  the  birth,  death,  and  dismemberment  of  the  enigmatical 
and  peaceable  creature. 

If  there  was  nothing  but  killing  to  be  seen  in  this  manufacture  of 
food,  it  would  hardly  be  worth  while  to  go  through  so  many  bloody 
scenes  for  the  sake  of  verifying,  in  one  of  its  lower  exemplifications,  what 
the  philosopher  Huxley  somewhere  magnificently  calls  "the  gladiatorial 
theory  of  existence,"  the  severe  law  that  murder  is  necessary  to  life. 
But  this  is  only  a  first  impression,  to  experience  before  passing  to  a  second, 
that  of  the  rapidity  and  ingenuity  of  the  cutting-up  and  packing  of  this 
prodigious  quantity  of  perishable  meat.  I  don't  know  who  it  was  who 
sportively  said  that  a  pig  that  went  to  the  abattoir  at  Chicago  came  out 
fifteen  minutes  later  in  the  form  of  ham,  sausages,  large  and  small,  hair 
oil,  and  binding  for  a  Bible.  It  is  a  witty  exaggeration,  yet  hardly 
overdone,  of  the  rapid  and  minute  labor  which  we  had  just  seen  bestowed 
upon  the  beasts  killed  before  our  eyes;  and  the  subdividing  of  this  work, 
its  precision,  simplicity,  quick  succession,  succeeding  in  making  us 
forget  the  necessary  but  intolerable  brutality  of  the  scenes  we  had  been 
witnessing. 

An  immense  hall  is  furnished  with  a  succession  of  counters  placed 
without  much  order,  where  each  member  of  the  animal  is  cut  apart  and 
utilized  without  the  loss  of  a  bone  or  tendon.  Here,  with  a  quick,  auto- 
matic blow,  which  never  misses,  a  man  cuts  off  first  the  hams,  then 
the  feet,  as  fast  as  he  can  throw  them  into  caldrons,  which  boil  and  smoke 
them  before  your  eyes.  Farther  along,  a  hatchet,  moved  by  machinery, 
is  at  work  making  sausage-meat,  which  tubes  of  all  sizes  will  pour  forth 
in  rolls  ready  for  the  skins,  that  are  all  washed  and  prepared.  The 
word  "garlic"  which  I  see  written  on  a  box  in  German,  "Knoblauch," 
and  the  accompanying  inscription,  transports  me  to  the  time  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  War,  when  each  Prussian  soldier  carried  in  his  sack 
just  such  provisions,  which  had  come  from  this  very  place.  These 
products  of  Chicagoan  industry  will  be  sent  far  enough  beyond  New 
York! 


244  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

Elsewhere  the  head  and  jowl  are  cleaned,  trimmed,  and  dressed, 
to  figure  in  their  natural  form  in  the  show  window  of  some  American 
or  European  market.  Elsewhere,  again,  enormous  receptacles  are  being 
filled  with  suet  which  boils  and  bubbles,  and  having  been  cunningly 
mixed  with  a  certain  proportion  of  cream  will  be  transformed  into 
margarine,  refined  in  an  automatic  beating  machine  of  which  we  admired 
the  artful  simplicity. 

"A  workingman  invented  that,"  said  our  guide.  "For  that  matter," 
he  added,  "almost  all  the  machines  that  are  used  here  were  either  made 
or  improved  by  the  workmen." 

These  words  shed  light  for  us  upon  all  this  vast  workshop.  We 
understood  what  these  men  require  of  a  machine  that  for  them  prolongs, 
multiplies,  perfects  the  acts  of  men.  Once  again  we  felt  how  much 
they  have  become  refined  in  their  processes  of  work,  how  they  excel 
in  combining  with  their  personal  effort  the  complication  of  machinery, 
and  also  how  the  least  among  them  has  a  power  of  initiative,  of  direct 
vision  and  adjustment. 

Seated  again  in  our  carriage,  and  rolling  away  over  the  irregular 
wooden  pavement  made  of  round  sections  of  trees  embedded  at  pleasure 
in  the  mud,  we  reflected  upon  what  we  had  just  seen.  We  tried  to  dis- 
cern its  intellectual  significance,  if  we  may  use  this  word  in  reference  to 
such  an  enterprise.  And  why  not?  We  are  all  agreed  that  the  first 
characteristic  of  this  enterprise  is  the  amplitude,  or  rather  the  stupen- 
dousness,  of  its  conception.  For  an  establishment  like  this  to  have,  in 
a  few  years,  brought  up  the  budget  of  its  employees  to  five  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  that  is,  to  more  than  twenty-seven  millions 
of  francs,  its  founders  must  have  clearly  perceived  the  possibilities  of  an 
enormous  extension  of  business,  and  have  no  less  clearly  perceived, 
defined,  and  determined  its  practical  features. 

A  colossal  effort  of  imagination  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other, 
at  the  service  of  imagination,  a  clear  and  carefully  estimated  understand- 
ing of  the  encompassing  reality, — these  are  the  two  features  everywhere 
stamped  upon  the  unparalleled  establishment  which  we  have  just 
visited.  One  of  us  pointed  out  another  fact, — that  the  principal  prac- 
tical feature  is  the  railway,  reminding  us  that  the  locomotive  has  always 
been  an  implement  of  general  utility  in  American  hands.  By  it  they 
revolutionized  military  art  and  created  a  full-panoplied  modern  warfare, 
such  as  the  Germans  were  later  to  practise  at  our  expense.  In  the  great 
national  war  of  1860,  they  first  showed  what  advantage  could  be  taken 
of  this  new  means  of  mobilization.  The  length  of  the  trains  they  sent 
out  during  that  period  has  passed  into  legend.  In  fact,  the  establish- 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  245 

ment  which  we  have  been  discussing  is  only  one  particular  case  of  that 
universal  use  of  the  railway,  which  is  itself  only  a  particular  illustration 
of  that  essentially  American  turn  of  mind, — the  constant  use  of  new 
methods. 

The  entire  absence  of  routine,  the  daily  habit  of  letting  the  fact 
determine  the  action,  of  following  it  fearlessly  to  the  end, — these  char- 
acteristics grow  out  of  the  other,  and  this  acute  consciousness  of  the 
fact  also  explains  that  sort  of  superficial  incoherence  in  the  distribution 
of  labor  which  we  have  already  noticed.  Extreme  clearness,  per- 
spicuity of  administrative  order,  always  spring  from  an  a  priori  theory. 
All  societies  and  all  enterprises  in  which  realism,  rather  than  system, 
rules  are  constructed  by  juxtaposition,  by  series  of  facts  accepted  as 
they  arise.  But  how  should  the  people  here  have  leisure  to  concern 
themselves  with  those  small,  fine  points  of  administrative  order  with 
which  our  Latin  peoples  are  so  much  in  love?  Competition  is  too  strong, 
too  ferocious,  almost.  There  is  all  of  warfare  and  its  breathless  audacity 
back  of  the  enterprises  of  this  country,  even  of  those  most  firmly  estab- 
lished, like  this  one. 

Our  guide,  who  listens  to  our  philosophizing  without  seeming  much 
to  disapprove,  tells  us  that  this  very  year,  in  order  to  elude  a  coalition 
of  speculators  in  grain,  which  he  explains  to  us,  the  head  of  the  house 
which  we  have  just  visited  was  forced  to  erect  in  nineteen  days,  for  the 
housing  of  his  own  wheat,  a  building  three  hundred  feet  square  by  a 
hundred  high! 

"Yes,  in  nineteen  days,  working  night  and  day,"  he  said,  smiling; 
"but  we  Americans  like  'hard  work.'" 

With  this  almost  untranslatable  word, — to  one  who  has  not  heard 
it  uttered  here, — our  visit  ends.  It  sums  up  and  completes  it  with  a 
terseness  worthy  of  this  people  of  much  action  and  few  phrases! 

I  visited  in  detail  the  building  of  one  of  the  principal  Chicago 
newspapers,  just  when  they  were  printing  the  Sunday  edition, — a 
trifling  affair  of  twenty-four  pages.  I  had  seen  in  New  York  also  on  a 
Saturday  evening,  the  making  up  of  such  a  number, — that  of  the  Herald, 
It  had  forty  pages,  and  pictures!  There  was  a  matter  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  copies  to  be  sent  out  by  the  early  morning  trains.  When 
the  circulation  reaches  such  figures  as  these,  a  newspaper  is  not  merely 
a  machine  for  moulding  public  opinion,  of  a  power  incalculable  in  a 
democratic  country,  it  is  also  an  inconceivably  complicated  business  to 
carry  on.  Precisely  because  this  business  differs  radically  from  that 
which  the  day  before  yesterday  I  was  endeavoring  to  understand,  I 
shall  be  the  better  able  to  judge  whether  the  general  features  which  I 


246  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

there  discovered  are  to  be  found  in  all  American  enterprises.  I  can 
judge  of  that  more  easily  here  than  in  New  York,  the  number  of  copies 
of  the  paper  being  somewhat  less  than  in  New  York,  and  the  process 
of  shipping  more  convenient  to  follow. 

It  needed  not  five  hundred  steps  in  these  offices  to  make  evident  to 
me  the  simultaneous  play  of  those  two  mental  tendencies  which  appeared 
to  me  so  characteristic  the  other  day, — the  enormous  range  of  invention, 
and  the  constant,  minute,  ever-watchful  adoption  of  new  means.  The 
American  journalist  does  not  propose  to  himself  to  reach  this  or  that 
reader,  but  all  readers.  He  does  not  propose  to  publish  articles  of  this 
or  that  kind,  but  of  all  kinds.  His  purpose  is  to  make  his  newspaper  an 
accurate  mould  of  all  that  actually  is,  a  sort  of  relief  map,  which  shall 
be  an  epitome,  not  of  the  day,  but  of  the  hour,  the  minute,  so  all-embrac- 
ing and  complete  that  tomorrow  a  hundred  thousand,  two  hundred 
thousand,  a  million  persons  shall  have  before  them  at  breakfast  a  com- 
pendious picture  first  of  their  own  city,  next  of  their  state,  then  of  all 
the  states  of  the  Union,  and  finally  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Aus- 
tralia. Nor  does  this  ambition  content  them;  it  is  their  will  that  these 
hundred  thousand,  two  hundred  thousand,  million  of  readers  shall  find 
in  their  favorite  newspaper  that  which  shall  answer  all  questions  of 
every  sort  which  they  may  put  to  themselves  upon  politics,  finance, 
religion,  the  arts,  literature,  sport,  society,  and  the  sciences.  It  is  a 
daily  encyclopedia,  set  to  the  key  of  the  passing  moment,  which  is 
already  past. 

The  meaning  of  this  colossal  project  is  shown  naturally  and  in 
every  possible  way  in  every  part  of  the  newspaper  building.  Workmen 
and  editors  must  be  able  to  take  their  meals  at  any  hour,  and  without 
leaving  the  building.  They  have  therefore  their  own  bar  and  restaurant. 
The  printing  of  the  pictures,  so  dear  to  Americans,  must  not  be  delayed. 
The  paper  has  its  type  foundry,  a  regular  smelting-shop,  where  the  lead 
boils  in  the  coppers.  The  news  must  be  gathered  up  to  the  last  second, 
like  water  in  the  desert,  without  losing  a  drop.  The  paper  has  its  own 
telegraph  and  telephone  wires,  by  which  it  is  in  communication  with 
the  entire  world.  At  the  time  of  the  last  presidential  election,  a  number 
of  Mr.  Cleveland's  partisans  came  together  here,  in  one  of  the  editorial 
rooms  which  was  shown  me,  and  from  there  they  conversed  with  the 
candidate,  himself  in  New  York,  receiving  his  instructions  and  giving 
him  information.  And  what  presses!  Capable  of  turning  off  work 
which  thirty  years  ago  would  have  required  a  force  of  how  many  hundreds 
of  men !  Two  workmen  are  enough  today. 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  247 

I  find  here  a  press  of  the  kind  of  which  I  saw  a  large  size  in  the  New 
York  Herald  building,  which,  they  told  me  there,  turned  off  seventy 
thousand  numbers  in  two  hours.  The  enormous  machine  is  going  at 
full  speed  when  I  approach  it.  Its  roar  is  so  great  that  no  voice  can  be 
heard  beside  it.  It  is  a  noise  like  the  roar  of  Niagara,  and  the  colossal 
strip  of  paper  rapidly  unrolling  as  it  is  drawn  through  the  machine  gives 
an  effect  as  of  falling  water,  or  the  eddying  of  liquid  metal.  You  see  a 
whiteness  gliding  by,  bent  and  folded  by  the  play  of  innumerable  bars 
of  steel,  and  at  the  other  end  a  sort  of  mouth  pouring  forth  newspapers  of 
sixteen  pages  all  ready  for  distribution.  The  machine  has  seized  the 
paper,  turned  and  returned  it,  printed  it  on  both  sides,  cut  it,  folded  it, 
and  here  is  a  portion  of  a  colossal  number  which  without  undue  haste  a 
child  joins  with  the  other  portions. 

In  presence  of  this  formidable  printing  creature — it  is  the  only 
expression  that  will  serve  my  turn — I  feel  again,  as  in  New  York,  a 
sensation  as  of  a  power  which  transcends  the  individual.  This  printing 
press  is  a  multiplier  of  thought  to  an  extent  not  measurable  by  any  human 
arithmetic.  There  is  a  singular  contrast  between  the  extreme  precision 
of  its  organs — as  delicate  and  accurate  as  those  of  a  watch — and  that 
indefinite  reach  of  mind  projection  which  Americans  accept  as  they 
accept  all  facts.  To  their  mind  amplitude  calls  for  amplitude  by  a  se- 
quence which  it  is  easy  to  follow  in  the  history  of  journalism;  having 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  paper  of  enormous  circulation,  they  invented 
machines  which  would  produce  copies  enough,  and,  as  their  machines 
appeared  to  them  capable  of  producing  a  large  number  of  copies,  their 
conception  of  circulation  increased  in  parallel  lines.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  in  less  than  twenty  years  they  will  have  found  means  of  pro- 
ducing papers  of  which  five  hundred  thousand  copies  a  day  will  be  sold, 
like  our  Petit  Journal,  only  theirs  will  have  sixteen,  twenty-four,  forty, 
sixty  folio  pages. 

This  is  the  practical  aspect  of  the  plant;  there  is  another.  In  vain 
is  a  newspaper  conceived  of  and  managed  as  a  matter  of  business — it  is  a 
business  of  a  special  kind.  It  must  have  a  moral  purpose,  must  take 
its  stand  for  or  against  such  a  law,  for  or  against  such  a  person;  it  must 
have  its  own  individuality.  It  cannot  owe  its  individuality,  as  with 
us,  to  the  personality  of  its  editors,  since  its  articles  are  not  signed; 
nor  even,  as  in  England,  to  the  style  and  manner  of  the  articles.  The 
"editorial,"  as  they  call  the  leaders,  occupies  too  small  a  place  in  this 
enormous  mass  of  printed  paper.  And  yet  each  one  of  the  great  news- 
papers of  New  York,  Chicago,  or  Boston  is  a  creation  by  itself,  made  in 


248  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

the  image  of  him  who  edits  it, — usually  the  proprietor.  In  the  same  Way 
the  president  of  a  railway  company  is  usually  the  principal  stockholder. 

Here,  again,  is  a  particular  feature  of  large  business  enterprises  in 
America  and  one  which  explains  their  vitality;  a  business  is  always  the 
property  of  a  man,  the  visible  will  of  that  man,  his  energy,  as  it  were, 
incarnated  and  made  evident.  The  formula  which  I  just  now 
used  and  emphasized  very  happily  expresses  this  intimate  relation 
between  the  man  and  his  work.  You  will  hear  it  currently  said  that 
Mr.  So-and-so  has  long  been  "identified"  with  such  a  hotel,  such  a  bank, 
or  railway,  or  newspaper,  and  this  identification  is  so  complete  that  if, 
on  passing  in  a  street  car  before  that  hotel  or  bank,  or  railway  station, 
or  newspaper,  you  ask  your  neighbor  about  it,  he  will  always  reply  to 
you  with  a  proper  name.  From  this  it  results  that  in  all  American 
enterprises  there  is  an  elasticity,  a  vitality,  a  continual  "Forward!" 
and  also  an  indefatigable  combativeness. 

I  recognize  this  latter  characteristic  once  again  as  I  pass  through 
these  offices,  if  only  by  the  minute  questions  of  my  guide  as  to  the  French 
press  and  our  methods  of  securing  a  superior  literary  criticism.  They 
feel  that  this  is  our  peculiar  excellence,  and  they  long  to  have  their  own 
newspapers  attain  to  it.  Every  actual  director  of  one  of  these  great 
public  enterprises  is  thus  on  the  watch  for  possible  modifications  which 
may  distinguish  his  sheet  from  all  others,  continually  working  it  over  and 
loading  it  down  with  more  facts,  more  articles,  enrolling  more  people 
in  its  service,  employing  them  to  better  purpose. 

Thus  managed,  the  direction  of  such  an  enterprise  becomes  a  work 
of  incalculable  complexity.  The  power  to  which  these  dictators  of  pub- 
lic opinion  attain  is  so  exceptional  and  so  real,  its  existence  means  so 
much  that  is  dear  to  Americans, — immense  fortune  and  immense  respon- 
sibility, enormous  labor  to  undergo  and  the  continual  manifestation  of 
the  fact  that  the  ambition  of  truly  enterprising  men  continually  impels 
them  into  these  lines.  A  city  is  no  sooner  founded  than  papers  begin 
to  multiply.  Some  of  them  have  their  newspapers  before  they  are  even 
founded.  It  still  sometimes  occurs  that  the  government  gives  up  a 
large  stretch  of  territory  to  an  invasion  of  immigrants.  At  a  given  signal 
they  hasten  thither,  fall  upon  it,  and  each  bit  of  land  belongs  to  the 
first  occupant.  That  very  evening  or  the  next  morning,  on  the  plain 
where  wagons  and  tents  vaguely  indicate  the  outline  of  a  city,  you  will 
always  find  a  liquor  saloon,  a  postoffice,  a  church,  and  a  newspaper! 

Who  knows  that  these  wagons  and  tents  are  not  the  beginning  of 
a  Minneapolis,  a  St.  Paul,  a  Chicago?  Who  knows  that  in  twenty-five 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  249 

years  this  town  will  not  have  a  hundred  thousand,  two  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  the  newspaper  as  many  readers?  The  insignificance  of 
a  beginning  never  frightens  an  American  who  is  planning  for  business. 
Just  as  in  meditating  on  the  future  of  a  business  enterprise,  there  is  no 
possibility  of  extension  which  does  not  occur  to  him,  so  no  mediocrity 
disheartens  him.  He  has  before  him  too  many  examples  of  gigantic 
results  attained  from  very  small  and  humble  beginnings.  The  greatest 
railway  in  the  United  States,  the  Central  Pacific,  was  founded  by  four 
men  almost  without  resources,  two  of  whom  were  small  shopkeepers  in 
'Frisco.  They  built  the  first  sections  of  the  line,  mile  by  mile,  without 
money  to  go  forward  except  bit  by  bit.  Legend  has  it  that  in  certain 
cases  they  were  obliged  to  lay  the  rails  with  their  own  hands! 

While  I  am  submitting  these  very  general  reflections  to  my  com- 
panion, as  we  pass  through  the  halls,  I  observe  a  number  of  men,  nearly 
all  young,  bent  over  their  desks  and  writing  with  that  absorbed  attention 
which  speaks  again  of  "hard  work,"  the  faculty  of  giving  all  one's  powers 
to  the  present  duty.  Others  are  receiving  despatches  which  they  im- 
mediately transmit  on  writing-machines.  There  is  none  of  that  club 
atmosphere  which  makes  the  charm  of  Parisian  editorial  rooms.  At 
this  hour,  over  there,  the  paper  is  nearly  ready,  and  even  while  the  last 
touches  are  being  added  they  talk;  they  smoke;  they  play  cards, 
dominoes,  cup  and  ball.  Here  in  this  precocious  news-factory  leisure 
is  wanting,  and  the  power  to  enjoy  leisure. 

To  appreciate  the  difference  between  the  two  editorial  offices,  one 
must  set  over  against  one  another  the  two  personalities  of  the  French 
and  the  American  reporter.  The  principal  quality  of  the  former  is  to 
be  witty  and  clever.  His  articles  are  signed,  and,  in  consequence,  his 
literary  self-consciousness  is  always  somewhat  mingled  with  the  notes 
to  which  he  makes  a  point  of  giving  his  own  peculiar  touch.  You  know 
him  as  mocking  or  sarcastic,  caustic  or  pathetic.  He  is  an  artist  even 
in  his  work  of  ephemeral  statement,  and  his  best  successes  are  most 
generally  in  a  sort  of  picturesque  chit-chat.  He  has  a  certain  impres- 
sionism, and  you  will  find  in  his  "copy"  something  of  the  methods  of  the 
best  writers  of  the  day.  The  American  reporter  remains  unknown,  even 
when  he  gives  to  his  journal  news,  to  obtain  which  has  cost  him  prodi- 
gies of  shrewdness  and  energy.  As  if  to  show  him  that  the  important 
matter  is  not  the  quality  of  his  phrases,  but  that  of  the  facts  he  brings, 
he  is  paid  by  the  word.  There  is  in  him  something  of  the  man  of  action, 
and  something  of  the  detective.  Sensational  novels  naturally  take  for 
their  hero  this  personage,  whose  master  virtue  is  strength  of  will.  He 


250  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  CHICAGO 

must  always  be  ready  to  set  out  for  the  most  remote  countries,  where  he 
will  be  obliged  to  play  the  part  of  explorer,  and  just  as  ready  to  descend 
to  the  lowest  social  stratum,  where  he  will  need  to  act  as  policeman. 

In  this  strenuous  school  he  may,  if  he  has  the  gift,  become  a  writer 
of  the  first  order.  Richard  Harding  Davis,  the  creator  of  Gallegher  and 
Van  Bibber,  is  a  case  in  point.  A  man  who  is  himself  a  judge  of  style, 
having  an  extraordinary  faculty  for  language  in  his  letters  and  public 
utterances— Bismarck — goes  so  far  as  to  insist  that  reporting,  as  Ameri- 
cans understand  it,  is  the  best  school  for  a  man  of  letters  who  desires  to 
picture  the  movement  of  life.  The  opinion  is  of  the  order  of  those 
uttered  by  the  Emperor  at  St.  Helena,  very  partial  and  full  of  misunder- 
standing of  the  character  of  literary  thought.  It  was  worth  citing;  for 
it  is  very  true  that  those  improvised,  almost  telegraphic  paragraphs, 
in  which  the  fact  appears  in  its  strong  immediate  clearness,  often  stand 
out  in  a  relief  which  art  cannot  equal.  But  it  is  an  unconscious  relief, 
over  which  the  reporter  has  had  no  anxiety.  His  anxiety  is  to  be  exact, 
and  every  means  is  good  that  will  secure  accuracy.  Many  people  are 
indignant  at  his  methods,  and  sometimes  they  are  not  wrong.  Last 
summer  I  was  passing  through  Beverly,  near  Boston,  at  the  time  of  the 
death  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  of  the  Federal  army.  The 
corpse  was  to  be  carried  to  Baltimore,  and  a  funeral  service  was  first 
celebrated  in  the  little  village  church.  In  the  midst  of  the  ceremony,  a 
young  man  entered,  drew  near  to  the  coffin,  gently  raised  the  pall, 
tapped  the  cover  with  his  finger,  and  said  softly: — 

"Steel,  not  wood." 

Then  he  disappeared,  in  the  midst  of  universal  surprise;  it  was  a 
reporter. 

These  ruthless  audacities  of  research  are,  however,  performed  with 
a  certain  simplicity,  almost  ingenuousness.  I  have  read  many  "inter- 
views" and  many  personal  paragraphs,  and,  short  as  has  been  my  time 
in  America,  I  could  count  those  which  have  in  them  anything  wounding 
or  even  one  of  those  humors  of  the  pen  so  habitual  among  the  most 
insignificant  paragrapher  of  the  boulevards.  This  sort  of  innocence  of  a 
press  so  audacious  in  its  investigations  is  explained,  I  think,  first,  by  the 
professional  character  of  the  reporter,  and  next,  if  I  may  so  speak,  by 
that  of  the  reader.  The  reporter  holds  it  to  be  his  duty  to  give  the  reader 
the  greatest  possible  number  of  facts.  The  reader  considers  it  his  right 
to  have  these  facts.  In  the  superabundance  of  positive  details  the  place 
reserved  for  each  personality  is  too  short  to  admit  of  an  ill-natured 
insinuation.  The  reporter  no  more  has  time  to  point  an  epigram  than 


IN  THE  WORLD'S  FAIR  YEAR  251 

the  detective  to  whom  I  but  now  compared  him  has  time  to  make  a 
practical  joke  upon  the  one  he  is  questioning.  He  is  much  more  occupied 
in  discovering  "headlines,"  a  collection  of  which  would  constitute  the 
most  humorous  chapter  of  a  journey  to  the  United  States.  Just  now, 
on  entering  the  room  of  the  newspaper  reserved  for  necrologies,  where  all 
the  biographies  of  celebrated  living  men  are  ranged  in  pigeonholes,  I  saw 
upon  the  table  a  proof  of  an  article  prepared  for  a  celebrated  singer  who, 
at  the  moment,  was  very  ill,  with  this  "heading":  "The  crystal  voice  is 
broken.  The  bird  will  sing  no  more." 

As  the  charming  woman  got  better,  the  article  joined  the  thousands 
of  similar  paragraphs  which  are  waiting  their  turn  among  proofs  of  pic- 
tures representing  buildings  and  men. 

"Buildings  may  burn  and  men  may  die,"  said  my  guide,  philo- 
sophically. Seeing  me  amused  by  the  fancifulness  of  these  titles,  he 
drew  my  attention  to  one  which  would  appear  on  the  morrow— the  most 
surprising  one,  perhaps,  which  I  have  seen — "Jerked  to  Jesus."  It 
was  the  account  of  the  hanging  of  a  negro,  a  "colored  gentleman,"  for 
"the  usual  crime,"  as  they  euphemistically  say  here,  that  of  having 
outraged  a  white  woman.  He  repented  on  the  eve  of  his  execution  and 
died  Christianly.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  reporter  who  summed  up  this 
death  in  these  three  sensational  words  is  not  himself  a  believer,  who 
distinctly  saw  in  this  event  the  entrance  of  a  ransomed  soul  into  paradise. 
Certainly,  thousands  of  plain  readers  will  do  so  by  the  mere  force  of  this 
announcement.  What  would  be  the  headlines  if  the  matter  in  hand  was 
not  so  vulgar  an  event  as  this,  but  the  arrival  or  departure  of  a  pugilist, 
or  his  meeting  with  another  prize  fighter? 

"That  is  the  incident  which  most  swells  the  circulation  of  a  paper," 
said  my  companion.  "Why  not?"  he  added;  "we  Anglo-Saxons  love 
a  'fight.'  We  like  it  in  politics,  and  this  is  why  we  must  always  see  two 
'leaders'  facing  one  another.  We  like  it  in  our  enterprises,  and  that  is 
why  I  can  never  be  content  until  I  have  made  my  paper  the  first  in  the 
United  States.  We  like  it  even  when  it  is  only  a  question  of  fisticuffs. 
And  I  think  our  race  will  lose  something  the  day  when  we  are  too  nearly 
cured  of  the  latter.  It  will  take  time  for  that,"  he  added,  with  a  smile 
that  lighted  up  his  countenance — a  smile  in  which  I  found,  as  among 
many  business  men  of  this  country,  a  little  of  the  square  solidity  of  the 
bulldog.  I  am  not  far  from  thinking,  with  him,  that  there  is,  in  fact, 
an  instinctive  education  in  the  national  amusements,  ferocious  as  they 
seem  to  be.  Certainly,  all  that  teaches  the  calculated  ardor  of  attack 
and  the  invincible  self-restraint  of  resistance  is  useful  to  men  destined 


252  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

to  live  in  a  country  where  they  everywhere  meet  so  intense  an  energy 
that,  in  ten  years,  this  newspaper  building,  these  machines,  the  very 
paper  itself,  will  be  things  of  the  past,  slow,  unformed,  behind  the  times. 
This  is  what  a  New  Yorker  replied  to  my  utterance  of  apprehension  with 
regard  to  crossing  by  the  Brooklyn  Bridge: — 

"It  is  not  possible  that  it  will  not  fall  some  day,"  I  said. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "between  now  and  then  we  shall  have  built  another, 
and  this  one  will  be  out  of  fashion." 


AT  THE   CLOSE   OF  THE   CENTURY,  1899 

(From  "America  Today  "  by  William  Archer;  copyright  1899,  by 
Charles  Scribners  Sons) 

fHEN  I  was  in  America  twenty-two  years  ago,  Chicago  was 
the  city  that  interested  me  least.  Coming  straight  from 
San  Francisco — which,  in  the  eyes  of  a  youthful  student  of 
Bret  Harte,  seemed  the  fitting  metropolis  of  one  of  the  great 
realms  of  romance — I  saw  in  Chicago  the  negation  of  all  that  had  charmed 
me  on  the  Pacific  slope.  It  was  a  flat  and  grimy  abode  of  mere  com- 
merce, a  rectilinear  Glasgow;  and  to  an  Edinburgh  man,  or  rather  boy, 
no  comparison  could  appear  more  damaging.  How  different  is  the 
impression  produced  by  the  Chicago  of  today!  In  1877  the  city  was 
extensive  enough,  indeed,  and  handsome  to  boot,  in  a  commonplace, 
cast-iron  fashion.  It  was  a  chequerboard  of  Queen-Victoria-streets. 
Today  its  area  is  appalling,  its  architecture  grandiose.  It  is  the  young 
giant  among  the  cities  of  the  earth,  and  it  stands  but  on  the  threshold 
of  its  destiny.  It  embraces  in  its  unimaginable  amplitude  every  extreme 
of  splendor  and  squalor.  Walking  in  Dearborn  Street  or  Adams  Street 
of  a  cloudy  afternoon,  you  think  yourself  in  a  frowning  and  fuliginous 
city  of  Dis,  piled  up  by  superhuman  and  apparently  sinister  powers. 
Cycling  round  the  boulevards  of  a  sunny  morning,  you  rejoice  in  the 
airy  and  spacious  greenery  of  the  Garden  City.  Driving  along  the 
Lake  Shore  to  Lincoln  Park  in  the  flush  of  sunset,  you  wonder  that  the 
dwellers  in  this  street  of  palaces  should  trouble  their  heads  about  Naples 
or  Venice,  when  they  have  before  their  very  windows  the  innumerable 
laughter,  the  ever-shifting  opalescence,  of  their  fascinating  inland 
sea.  Plunging  in  the  electric  cars  through  the  river  subway,  and  emerg- 
ing in  the  West  Side,  you  realise  that  the  slums  of  Chicago,  if  not  quite 
so  tightly  packed  as  those  of  New  York  or  London,  are  no  whit  behind 
them  in  the  other  essentials  of  civilised  barbarism.  Chicago,  more  than 
any  other  city  of  my  acquaintance,  suggests  that  antique  conception 
of  the  underworld  which  placed  Elysium  and  Tartarus  not  only  on  the 
same  plane,  but,  so  to  speak,  round  the  corner  from  each  other. 

As  the  elephant  (or  rather  the  megatherium)  to  the  giraffe,  so  is 


254  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

the  colossal  business  block  of  Chicago  to  the  skyscraper  of  New  York. 
There  is  a  proportion  and  dignity  in  the  mammoth  buildings  of  Chicago 
which  is  lacking  in  most  of  those  which  form  the  jagged  sky  line  of  Man- 
hattan Island.  For  one  reason  or  another — no  doubt  some  difference 
in  the  system  of  land  tenure  is  at  the  root  of  the  matter — the  Chicago 
architect  has  usually  a  larger  plot  of  ground  to  operate  on  than  his 
New  York  colleague,  and  can  consequently  give  his  building  breadth 
and  depth  as  well  as  height.  Before  the  lanky  giants  of  the  eastern 
metropolis,  one  has  generally  to  hold  one's  aesthetic  judgment  in  abey- 
ance. They  are  not  precisely  ugly,  but  still  less,  as  a  rule,  can  they  be 
called  beautiful.  They  are  simply  astounding  manifestations  of  human 
energy  and  heaven-storming  audacity.  They  stand  outside  the  pale 
of  aesthetics,  like  the  Eiffel  Tower  or  the  Forth  Bridge.  But  in  Chicago 
proportion  goes  along  with  mere  height,  and  many  of  the  business 
houses  are,  if  not  beautiful,  at  least  aesthetically  impressive — for  instance, 
the  grim  fortalice  of  Marshall  Field  &  Company,  the  Masonic  Temple, 
the  Women's  Temperance  Temple  (a  structure  with  a  touch  of  real 
beauty),  and  such  vast  cities  within  the  city  as  the  Great  Northern 
Building  and  the  Monadnock  Block.  The  last-named  edifice  alone 
is  said  to  have  a  daily  population  of  6000.  A  city  ordinance  now  limits 
the  height  of  buildings  to  ten  stories;  but  even  that  is  a  respectable 
allowance.  Moreover,  it  is  found  that  where  giant  constructions  cluster 
too  close  together,  they  (literally)  stand  in  each  other's  light,  and  the 
middle  stories  do  not  let.  Thus  the  heaven-storming  era  is  probably 
over;  but  there  is  all  the  more  reason  to  feel  assured  that  the  business 
center  of  Chicago  will  ere  long  be  not  only  grandiose  but  architecturally 
dignified  and  satisfactory.  A  growing  thirst  for  beauty  has  come  upon 
the  city,  and  architects  are  earnestly  studying  how  to  assuage  it.  In 
magnificence  of  internal  decoration,  Chicago  can  already  challenge  the 
world:  for  instance,  in  the  white  marble  vestibule  and  corridors  of  The 
Rookery,  and  the  noble  hall  of  the  Illinois  Trust  Bank. 

At  the  same  time,  no  account  of  the  city  scenery  of  Chicago  is 
complete  without  the  admission  that  the  gorges  and  canyons  of  its 
central  district  are  exceedingly  draughty,  smoky,  and  dusty.  Even  in 
these  radiant  spring  days,  it  fully  acts  up  to  its  reputation  as  the  Windy 
City.  This  peculiarity  renders  it  probably  the  most  convenient  place 
in  the  world  for  the  establishment  of  a  Suicide  Club  on  the  Stevensonian 
model.  With  your  eyes  peppered  with  dust,  with  your  ears  full  of  the 
clatter  of  the  elevated  road,  and  with  the  prairie  breezes  playfully 
buffeting  you  and  waltzing  with  you  by  turns,  as  they  eddy  through 
the  ravines  of  Madison,  Monroe,  or  Adams  Street,  you  take  your  life 


AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  CENTURY  255 

in  your  hand  when  you  attempt  the  crossing  of  State  Street,  with  its 
endless  stream  of  rattling  wagons  and  clanging  trolley  cars.  New  York 
does  not  for  a  moment  compare  with  Chicago  in  the  roar  and  bustle  and 
bewilderment  of  its  street  life.  This  remark  will  probably  be  resented 
in  New  York,  but  it  expresses  the  settled  conviction  of  an  impartial 
pedestrian,  who  has  spent  a  considerable  portion  of  his  life  during  the 
past  few  weeks  in  "negotiating"  the  crossings  of  both  cities. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  observe  no  eagerness  on  the  part  of  New  York 
to  contest  the  supremacy  of  Chicago  in  the  matter  of  smoke.  In  this 
respect,  the  eastern  metropolis  is  to  the  western  as  Mont  Blanc  to 
Vesuvius.  The  smoke  of  Chicago  has  a  peculiar  and  aggressive  indi- 
viduality, due,  I  imagine,  to  the  natural  clearness  of  the  atmosphere. 
It  does  not  seem,  like  London  smoke,  to  permeate  and  blend  with  the 
air.  It  does  not  overhang  the  streets  in  a  uniform  canopy,  but  sweeps 
across  and  about  them  in  gusts  and  swirls,  now  dropping  and  now  lifting 
again  its  grimy  curtain.  You  will  often  see  the  vista  of  a  gorge-like 
street  so  choked  with  a  seeming  thunder-cloud  that  you  feel  sure  a  storm 
is  just  about  to  burst  upon  the  city,  until  you  look  up  at  the  zenith  and 
find  it  smiling  and  serene.  Again  and  again  a  sudden  swirl  of  smoke 
across  the  street  (like  that  which  swept  across  Fifth  Avenue  when  the 
Windsor  Hotel  burst  into  flames)  has  led  me  to  prick  up  my  ears  for  a  cry  of 
"Fire!"  But  Chicago  is  not  so  easily  alarmed.  It  is  accustomed  to 
having  its  airs  from  heaven  blurred  by  these  blasts  from  hell.  I  know 
few  spectacles  more  curious  than  that  which  awaits  you  when  you  have 
shot  up  in  the  express  elevator  to  the  top  of  the  Auditorium  tower — on 
the  one  hand,  the  blue  and  laughing  lake,  on  the  other,  the  city  belching 
volumes  of  smoke  from  its  thousand  throats,  as  though  a  vaster  Sheffield 
or  Wolverhampton  had  been  transported  by  magic  to  the  shores  ot  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  What  a  wonderful  city  Chicago  will  be  when  the 
commandment  is  honestly  enforced  which  declares,  "Thou  shalt  con- 
sume thine  own  smoke!" 

What  a  wonderful  city  Chicago  will  be!  That  is  the  ever-recurring 
burden  of  one's  cogitations.  For  Chicago  is  awake,  and  intelligently 
awake,  to  her  destinies;  so  much  one  perceives  even  in  the  reiterated 
complaints  that  she  is  asleep.  Discontent  is  the  condition  of  progress, 
and  Chicago  is  not  in  the  slightest  danger  of  relapsing  into  a  condition 
of  inert  self  complacency.  Her  sons  love  her,  but  they  chasten  her. 
They  are  never  tired  of  urging  her  on,  sometimes  (it  must  be  owned) 
with  most  unfilial  objurgations;  and  she,  a  quite  unwearied  Titan,  is 
bracing  up  her  sinews  for  the  great  task  of  the  coming  century.  I  have 
given  myself  a  rendezvous  in  Chicago  for  1925,  when  airships  will  no 


256  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

doubt  make  the  transit  easy  for  my  septuagenarian  frame.  Nowhere 
in  the  world,  I  am  sure,  does  the  "to  be  continued  in  our  next"  interest 
take  hold  on  one  with  such  a  compulsive  grip. 

Culture  is  pouring  into  Chicago  as  rapidly  as  pork  or  grain,  and 
Chicago  is  insatiate  in  asking  for  more.  In  going  over  the  Public 
Library  (a  not  quite  satisfactory  building,  though  with  some  beautiful 
details)  I  was  most  of  all  impressed  by  the  army  of  ironbound  boxes 
which  are  perpetually  speeding  to  and  fro  between  the  library  itself 
and  no  fewer  than  fifty-seven  distributing  stations  scattered  throughout 
the  city.  "I  thought  the  number  was  forty-eight,"  said  a  friend  who 
accompanied  me.  "So  it  was  last  year,"  said  the  librarian.  "We  have 
set  up  nine  more  stations  during  the  interval."  The  Chicago  Library 
boasts  (no  doubt  justly)  that  it  circulates  more  books  than  any  similar 
institution  in  the  world.  Take,  again,  the  University  of  Chicago: 
seven  years  ago  (or,  say,  at  the  outside  ten)  it  had  no  existence,  and  its 
site  was  a  dismal  swamp;  today  it  is  a  handsome  and  populous  center 
of  literary  and  scientific  culture.  Observe,  too,  that  it  is  by  no  means 
an  oasis  in  the  desert,  but  is  thoroughly  in  touch  with  the  civic  life  around 
it.  For  instance,  it  actively  participates  in  the  admirable  work  done  by 
the  Hull  House  Settlement  in  South  Halsted  Street,  and  in  the  vigorous 
and  wide-spreading  University  Extension  movement. 

At  the  present  moment,  Chicago  is  not  a  little  resentful  of  the  sharp 
admonitions  addressed  to  her  by  two  of  her  aforesaid  loving  but  exacting 
children.  One,  Professor  Charles  Zueblin,  has  been  telling  her  that 
"in  the  arrogance  of  youth  she  has  failed  to  realise  that  instead  of  being 
one  of  the  progressive  cities  of  the  world,  she  has  been  one  of  the  reckless, 
improvident,  and  shiftless  cities."  Professor  Zueblin  is  not  content 
(for  example)  with  her  magnificent  girdle  of  parks  and  boulevards,  but 
calls  for  smaller  parks  and  breathing  spaces  in  the  heart  ot  her  most 
crowded  districts.  He  further  maintains  that  her  great  new  sewage 
canal  is  a  gigantically  costly  blunder;  and  indeed  one  cannot  but  sym- 
pathise with  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis  in  inquiring  by  what  right  Chicago 
converts  the  Mississippi  into  her  main  sewer.  But  if  Professor  Zueblin 
chastises  Chicago  with  whips,  Mr.  Henry  B.  Fuller,  it  would  seem, 
lashes  her  with  scorpions.  Mr.  Fuller  is  one  of  the  leading  novelists  of 
the  city — for  Chicago,  be  it  known,  had  a  flourishing  and  characteristic 
literature  of  her  own  long  before  Mr.  Dooley  sprang  into  fame.  The 
author  of  The  Cliff -Dwellers  is  alleged  to  have  said  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  was  incapable  of  art,  and  that  in  this  respect  Chicago  was  pre- 
eminently Anglo-Saxon.  "Alleged,"  I  say,  for  reports  of  lectures  in 
the  American  papers  are  always  to  be  taken  with  caution,  and  are  very 


AT  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  CENTURY  257 

often  as  fanciful  as  Dr.  Johnson's  report  of  the  debates  in  Parliament. 
The  reporter  is  not  generally  a  shorthand  writer.  He  jots  down  as  much 
as  he  conveniently  can  of  the  lecturer's  remarks,  and  pieces  them  out 
from  imagination.  Thus,  I  am  not  at  all  sure  what  Mr.  Fuller  really 
said;  but  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  of  the  indignation  kindled  by  his 
diatribe.  Deny  her  artistic  capacities  and  sensibilities,  and  you  touch 
Chicago  in  her  tenderest  point.  Moreover,  Mr.  Fuller's  onslaught 
encouraged  several  other  like-minded  critics  to  back  him  up,  so  that  the 
city  has  been  writhing  under  the  scourges  of  her  epigrammatists.  I  have 
before  me  a  letter  to  one  of  the  evening  papers,  written  in  a  tone  of 
academic  sarcasm  which  proves  that  even  the  supercilious  and  "donnish" 
element  is  not  lacking  in  Chicago  culture.  "I  know  a  number  of  artists," 
says  the  writer,  "who  came  to  Chicago,  and  after  staying  here  for  a  while, 
went  away  and  achieved  much  success  in  New  York,  London,  and  Paris. 
The  appreciation  they  received  here  gave  them  the  impetus  to  go  else- 
where, and  thus  brought  them  fame  and  fortune."  Whatever  foundation 
there  may  be  for  these  jibes,  they  are  in  themselves  a  sufficient  evidence 
that  Chicago  is  alive  to  her  opportunities  and  responsibilities.  She  is, 
in  her  own  vernacular,  "making  culture  hum."  Mr.  Fuller,  I  under- 
stand, reproached  her  with  her  stockyards — an  injustice  which  even 
Mr.  Bernard  Shaw  would  scarcely  have  committed.  Is  it  the  fault  of 
Chicago  that  the  world  is  carnivorous?  Was  not  "Nature  red  in  tooth 
and  claw"  several  aeons  before  Chicago  was  thought  of?  I  do  not 
understand  that  any  unnecessary  cruelty  is  practised  in  the  stockyards; 
and  apart  from  that,  I  fail  to  see  that  systematic  slaughter  of  animals  for 
food  is  any  more  disgusting  than  sporadic  butchery.  But  of  the  stock- 
yards I  can  speak  only  from  hearsay.  I  shall  not  go  to  see  them.  If  I 
have  any  spare  time,  I  shall  rather  spend  it  in  a  second  visit  to  St. 
Gaudens'  magnificent  and  magnificently  placed  statue  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  surely  one  of  the  great  works  of  art  of  the  century,  and  of  the 
few  entirely  worthy  monuments  ever  erected  to  a  national  hero. 


AN  ENGLISH  SOCIALIST'S  REFLECTIONS,  1906 

(From  "The  Future  in  America"  by  H.  G.  Wells\  copyright  1906,  by 

Harper  6?  Brothers) 

III. 

N  smoky,  vast,  undisciplined  Chicago  Growth  forced  itself 
upon  me  again  as  the  dominant  American  fact,  but  this  time  a 
dark  disorder  of  growth.  I  went  about  Chicago  seeing  many- 
things  of  which  I  may  say  something  later.  I  visited  the 
top  of  the  Masonic  Building  and  viewed  a  wilderness  of  skyscrapers. 
I  acquired  a  felt  of  memories  of  swing  bridges  and  viaducts  and  inter- 
lacing railways  and  jostling  crowds  and  extraordinarily  dirty  streets.  I 
learnt  something  of  the  mystery  of  "floating  foundations"  upon  which 
so  much  of  Chicago  rests.  But  I  got  my  best  vision  of  Chicago  as  I 
left  it. 

I  sat  in  the  open  observation  car  at  the  end  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Limited  Express,  and  watched  the  long  defile  of  industrialism  from  the 
Union  Station  in  the  heart  of  things  to  out  beyond  South  Chicago  a 
dozen  miles  away.  I  had  not  gone  to  the  bloody  spectacle  of  the  stock- 
yards that  "feed  the  world,"  because,  to  be  frank,  I  have  an  immense 
repugnance  to  the  killing  of  fixed  and  helpless  animals;  I  saw  nothing 
of  those  ill-managed,  ill-inspected  establishments,  though  I  smelt  the 
unwholesome  reek  from  them  ever  and  again,  and  so  it  was  here  I  saw 
for  the  first  time  the  enormous  expanse  and  intricacy  of  railroads  thar 
net  this  great  industrial  desolation,  and  something  of  the  going  and  com- 
ing of  the  myriads  of  polyglot  workers.  Chicago  burns  bituminous  coal, 
it  has  a  reek  that  outdoes  London,  and  right  and  left  of  the  line  rise  vast 
chimneys,  huge  blackened  grain  elevators,  flame-crowned  furnaces  and 
gauntly  ugly  and  filthy  factory  buildings,  monstrous  mounds  of  refuse, 
desolate,  empty  lots  littered  with  rusty  cans,  old  iron,  and  indescribable 
rubbish.  Interspersed  with  these  are  groups  of  dirty,  disreputable, 
insanitary-looking  wooden  houses. 

We  swept  along  the  many-railed  track,  and  the  straws  and  scraps 
of  paper  danced  in  our  eddy  as  we  passed.  We  overtook  local  trains  and 
they  receded  slowly  in  the  great  perspective,  huge  freight  trains  met  us 


260  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

or  were  overtaken;  long  trains  of  doomed  cattle  passed  northward; 
solitary  engines  went  by — every  engine  tolling  a  melancholy  bell;  open 
trucks  crowded  with  workmen  went  cityward.  By  the  side  of  the 
track,  and  over  the  level  crossings,  walked  great  numbers  of  people.  So 
it  goes  on  mile  after  mile — Chicago.  The  sun  was  now  bright,  now  pallid 
through  some  streaming  curtain  of  smoke;  the  spring  afternoon  was  lit 
here  and  again  by  the  gallant  struggle  of  some  stunted  tree  with  a  rare 
and  startling  note  of  new  green. 

It  was  like  a  prolonged,  enlarged  mingling  of  the  south  side  of  Lon- 
don with  all  that  is  bleak  and  ugly  in  the  Black  Country.  It  is  the  most 
perfect  presentation  of  nineteenth  century  individualistic  industrialism 
I  have  ever  seen — in  its  vast,  its  magnificent  squalor;  it  is  pure  nine- 
teenth century;  it  had  no  past  at  all  before  that;  in  1800  it  was  empty 
prairie,  and  one  marvels  for  its  future.  It  is  indeed  a  nineteenth  century 
nightmare  that  culminates  beyond  South  Chicago  in  the  monstrous 
fungoid  shapes,  the  endless  smoking  chimneys,  the  squat  retorts,  the 
black  smoke  pall  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  For  a  time  the  sun 
is  veiled  altogether  by  that. 

And  then  suddenly  Chicago  is  a  dark  smear  under  the  sky,  and  we 
are  in  the  large  emptiness  of  America,  the  other  America — America 
in  between. 

IV. 

"UNDISCIPLINED" — that  is  the  word  for  Chicago.  It  is  the 
word  for  all  the  progress  of  the  Victorian  time,  a  scrambling,  ill-mannered, 
undignified,  unintelligent  development  of  material  resources.  Packing- 
town,  for  example,  is  a  place  that  feeds  the  world  with  meat,  that  con- 
centrates the  produce  of  a  splendid  countryside  at  a  position  of  imperial 
advantage,  and  its  owners  have  no  more  sense,  no  better  moral  quality, 
than  to  make  it  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  any  one  who  comes  within  two 
miles  of  it;  to  make  it  a  center  of  distribution  for  disease  and  decay, 
an  arena  of  shabby  evasions  and  extra  profits;  a  scene  of  brutal  economic 
conflict  and  squalid  filthiness,  offensive  to  every  sense.  (I  wish  I  could 
catch  the  soul  of  Herbert  Spencer  and  tether  it  in  Chicago  for  awhile 
to  gather  fresh  evidence  upon  the  superiority  of  unfettered  individualistic 
enterprises  to  things  managed  by  the  state.) 

Want  of  discipline!  Chicago  is  one  hoarse  cry  for  discipline!  The 
reek  and  scandal  of  the  stockyards  is  really  only  a  gigantic  form  of  that 
same  quality  in  American  life  that,  in  a  minor  aspect,  makes  the  sidewalk 
filthy.  The  key  to  the  peculiar  nasty  ugliness  of  those  Schoellkopf  works 
that  defile  the  Niagara  gorge  is  the  same  quality.  The  detestableness 


AN  ENGLISH  SOCIALIST'S  REFLECTIONS  261 

of  the  Elevated  railroads  of  Chicago  and  Boston  and  New  York  have 
this  in  common.  All  that  is  ugly  in  America,  in  Lancashire,  in  South 
and  East  London,  in  the  Pas  de  Calais,  is  due  to  this,  to  the  shoving 
unintelligent  proceedings  of  underbred  and  morally  obtuse  men.  Each 
man  is  for  himself,  each  enterprise;  there  is  no  order,  no  prevision,  no 
common  and  universal  plan.  Modern  economic  organization  is  still 
as  yet  only  thinking  of  emerging  from  its  first  chaotic  stage,  the  stage 
of  lawless  enterprise  and  insanitary  aggregation,  the  stage  of  the  pros- 
pector's camp. 

But  it  does  emerge. 

Men  are  makers — American  men,  I  think,  more  than  most  men — 
and  amidst  even  the  catastrophic  jumble  of  Chicago  one  finds  the  same 
creative  forces  at  work  that  are  struggling  to  replan  a  greater  Boston, 
and  that  turned  a  waste  of  dumps  and  swamps  and  cabbage  gardens 
into  Central  Park,  New  York.  Chicago  also  has  its  Parks  Commission 
and  its  green  avenues,  its  bright  flower-gardens,  its  lakes  and  playing- 
fields.  Its  Midway  Plaisance  is  in  amazing  contrast  with  the  dirt,  the 
congestion,  the  moral  disorder  of  its  State  Street;  its  field  houses  do 
visible  battle  with  slum  and  the  frantic  meanness  of  commercial  folly. 

Field  houses  are  peculiar  to  Chicago,  and  Chicago  has  every  reason 
to  be  proud  of  them.  I  visited  one  that  is  positively  within  smell  of 
the  stockyards  and  wedged  into  a  district  of  gaunt  and  dirty  slums. 
It  stands  in  the  midst  of  a  little  park,  and  close  by  it  are  three  playing- 
grounds  with  swings  and  parallel  bars  and  all  manner  of  athletic  appli- 
ances, one  for  little  children,  one  for  girls  and  women,  and  one  for  boys 
and  youths.  In  the  children's  place  is  a  paddling-pond  of  clear,  clean, 
running  water  and  a  shaded  area  of  frequently  changed  sand,  and  in 
the  park  was  a  broad  asphalted  arena  that  can  be  flooded  for  skating 
in  winter.  All  this  is  free  to  all  comers,  and  free  too  is  the  field  house 
itself.  This  is  a  large,  cool  Italianate  place  with  two  or  three  reading 
rooms — one  specially  arranged  for  children — a  big  discussion  hall,  a 
big  and  well-equipped  gymnasium,  and  big,  free  baths  for  men  and 
for  women.  There  is  also  a  clean,  bright  refreshment  place  where 
wholesome  food  is  sold  just  above  cost  price.  It  was  early  on  Friday 
afternoon  when  I  saw  it  all,  but  the  place  was  busy  with  children,  reading, 
bathing,  playing  in  a  hundred  different  ways. 

And  this  field  house  is  not  an  isolated  philanthropic  enterprise. 
It  is  just  one  of  a  number  that  are  dotted  about  Chicago,  mitigating 
and  civilizing  its  squalor.  It  was  not  distilled  by  begging  and  charity 
from  the  stench  of  the  stockyards  or  the  reek  of  Standard  Oil.  It  is 


262  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

part  of  the  normal  work  of  a  special  taxing  body  created  by  the  legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  Illinois.  It  is  just  one  of  the  fruits  upon  one  of 
the  growths  that  spring  from  such  persistent  creative  efforts  as  that  of 
the  Chicago  City  Club.  It  is  socialism — even  as  its  enemies  declare. 

Even  amidst  the  somber  uncleanliness  of  Chicago  one  sees  the  light 
of  a  new  epoch,  the  coming  of  new  conceptions,  of  foresight,  of  large 
collective  plans  and  discipline  to  achieve  them,  the  fresh  green  leaves, 
among  all  the  festering  manure,  of  the  giant  growths  of  a  more  orderly 
and  more  beautiful  age. 


ARNOLD  BENNETT'S  OBSERVATIONS,  1912 

(From  "Your  United  States"  by  Arnold  Bennett;  copyright  191 '2 ',  by 

Harper  &  Brothers) 

JHEN  I  left  New  York  and  went  to  Washington  I  was  con- 
gratulated on  having  quitted  the  false  America  for  the  real. 
When  I  came  to  Boston  I  received  the  sympathies  of  every- 
body in  Boston  on  having  been  put  off  for  so  long  with  spur- 
ious imitations  of  America,  and  a  sigh  of  happy  relief  went  up  that  I 
had  at  length  got  into  touch  with  a  genuine  American  city.  When, 
after  a  long  pilgrimage,  I  attained  Chicago,  I  was  positively  informed 
that  Chicago  alone  was  the  gate  of  the  United  States,  and  that  every- 
thing east  of  Chicago  was  negligible  and  even  misleading.  And  when  I 
entered  Indianapolis  I  discovered  that  Chicago  was  a  mushroom  and  a 
suburb  of  Warsaw,  and  that  its  pretension  to  represent  the  United 
States  was  grotesque,  the  authentic  center  of  the  United  States  being 
obviously  Indianapolis.  The  great  towns  love  thus  to  affront  one 
another,  and  their  demeanor  in  the  game  resembles  the  gamboling  of 
young  tigers — it  is  half  playful  and  half  ferocious.  For  myself,  I  have 
to  say  that  my  heart  was  large  enough  to  hold  all  I  saw.  While  I  admit 
that  Indianapolis  struck  me  as  very  characteristically  American,  I  assert 
that  the  unreality  of  New  York  escaped  me.  It  appeared  to  me  that 
New  York  was  quite  a  real  city,  and  European  geographies  (apt  to  err, 
of  course,  in  matters  of  detail)  usually  locate  it  in  America. 

Having  regard  to  the  healthy  mutual  jealousy  of  the  great  towns, 
I  feel  that  I  am  carrying  audacity  to  the  point  of  foolhardiness  when  I 
state  that  the  streets  of  every  American  city  I  saw  reminded  me  on  the 
whole  rather  strongly  of  the  streets  of  all  the  others.  What  inhabitants 
of  what  city  could  forgive  this?  Yet  I  must  state  it.  Much  of  what 
I  have  said  of  the  streets  of  New  York  applies,  in  my  superficial  opinion, 
for  instance,  to  the  streets  of  Chicago.  It  is  well  known  that  to  the 
Chinaman  all  Westerners  look  alike.  No  tourist  on  his  first  visit  to  a 
country  so  astonishing  as  the  United  States  is  very  different  from  a 
Chinaman;  the  tourist  should  reconcile  himself  to  that  deep  truth. 
It  is  desolating  to  think  that  a  second  visit  will  reveal  to  me  the  blind- 


264  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

ness,  the  distortions,  and  the  wrong-headedness  of  my  first.  But  even 
as  a  Chinaman  I  did  notice  subtle  differences  between  New  York  and 
Chicago.  As  one  who  was  brought  up  in  a  bleak  and  uncanny  climate, 
where  soft  coal  is  in  universal  use,  I  at  once  felt  more  at  home  in  Chicago 
than  I  could  ever  do  in  New  York.  The  old  instinct  to  wash  the  hands 
and  change  the  collar  every  couple  of  hours  instantly  returned  to  me  in 
Chicago,  together  with  the  old  comforting  conviction  that  a  harsh  climate 
is  a  climate  healthy  for  body  and  spirit.  And,  because  it  is  laden  with 
soot,  the  air  of  Chicago 'is  a  great  mystifier  and  beautifier.  Atmos- 
pheric effects  may  be  seen  there  that  are  unobtainable  without  the 
combustion  of  soft  coal.  Talk,  for  example,  as  much,  as  you  please 
about  the  electric  sky-signs  of  Broadway — not  all  of  them  together  will 
write  as  much  poetry  on  the  sky  as  the  single  word  "Illinois"  that  hangs 
without  a  clue  to  its  suspension  in  the  murky  dusk  over  Michigan  Avenue. 
The  visionary  aspects  of  Chicago  are  incomparable. 

Another  difference,  of  quite  another  order,  between  New  York  and 
Chicago  is  that  Chicago  is  self-conscious.  New  York  is  not;  no  metrop- 
olis ever  is.  You  are  aware  of  the  self-consciousness  of  Chicago  as 
soon  as  you  are  aware  of  its  bitumen.  The  quality  demands  sympathy, 
and  wins  it  by  its  wistfulness.  Chicago  is  openly  anxious  about  its 
soul.  I  liked  that.  I  wish  I  could  see  a  livelier  anxiety  concerning  the 
municipal  soul  in  certain  cities  of  Europe. 

Perhaps  the  least  subtle  difference  between  New  York  and  Chicago 
springs  from  the  fact  that  the  handsomest  part  of  New  York  is  the 
center  of  New  York,  whereas  the  center  of  Chicago  is  disappointing. 
It  does  not  impress.  I  was  shown,  in  the  center  of  Chicago,  the  first 
skyscraper  that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  I  visited  with  admiration 
what  was  said  to  be  the  largest  department  store  in  the  world.  I  visited 
with  a  natural  rapture  the  largest  book  store  in  the  world.  I  was  in- 
formed (but  respectfully  doubt)  that  Chicago  is  the  greatest  port  in  the 
world.  I  could  easily  credit,  from  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes,  that  it 
is  the  greatest  railway  center  in  the  world.  But  still  my  imagination 
was  not  fired,  as  it  has  been  fired  again  and  again  by  far  lesser  and  far 
less  interesting  places.  Nobody  could  call  Wabash  Avenue  spectacular, 
and  nobody  surely  would  assert  that  State  Street  is  on  a  plane  with  the 
collective  achievements  of  the  city  of  which  it  is  the  principal  thorough- 
fare. The  truth  is  that  Chicago  lacks  at  present  a  rallying-point — some 
Place  de  la  Concorde  or  Arc  de  Triomphe — something  for  its  biggest 
streets  to  try  to  live  up  to.  A  convocation  of  elevated  railroads  is  not 
enough.  It  seemed  to  me  that  Jackson  Boulevard  or  Van  Buren  Street, 
with  fine  crescents  abutting  opposite  Grant  Park  and  Garfield  Park, 


ARNOLD  BENNETT'S  OBSERVATIONS  265 

and  a  magnificent  square  at  the  intersection  of  Ashland  Avenue,  might 
ultimately  be  the  chief  sight  and  exemplar  of  Chicago.  Why  not? 
Should  not  the  leading  thoroughfare  lead  boldly  to  the  lake  instead  of 
shunning  it?  I  anticipate  the  time  when  the  municipal  soul  of  Chicago 
will  have  found  in  its  streets  as  adequate  expression  as  it  has  already 
found  in  its  boulevards. 

Perhaps  if  I  had  not  made  the  "grand  tour"  of  those  boulevards, 
I  might  have  been  better  satisfied  with  the  streets  of  Chicago.  The 
excursion,  in  an  automobile,  occupied  something  like  half  of  a  frosty 
day  that  ended  in  torrents  of  rain — apparently  a  typical  autumn  day 
in  Chicago!  Before  it  had  proceeded  very  far  I  knew  that  there  was  a 
sufficient  creative  imagination  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  to  carry 
through  any  municipal  enterprise,  however  vast,  to  a  generous  and  final 
conclusion.  The  conception  of  those  boulevards  discloses  a  tremendous 
audacity  and  faith.  And  as  you  roll  along  the  macadam,  threading  at 
intervals  a  wide-stretching  park,  you  are  overwhelmed — at  least  I  was — 
by  the  completeness  of  the  scheme's  execution  and  the  lavishness  with 
which  the  system  is  in  every  detail  maintained  and  kept  up. 

You  stop  to  inspect  a  conservatory,  and  find  yourself  in  a  really 
marvelous  landscape  garden,  set  with  statues,  all  under  glass  and 
heated,  where  the  gaffers  of  Chicago  are  collected  together  to  discuss 
interminably  the  exciting  politics  of  a  city  anxious  about  its  soul.  And 
while  listening  to  them  with  one  ear,  with  the  other  you  may  catch  the 
laconic  tale  of  a  park  official's  perilous  and  successful  vendetta  against 
the  forces  of  graft. 

And  then  you  resume  the  circuit  and  accomplish  many  more  smooth, 
curving,  tree-lined  miles,  varied  by  a  jolting  section,  or  by  the  faint 
odor  of  the  Stockyards,  or  by  a  halt  to  allow  the  longest  freight  train 
in  the  world  to  cross  your  path.  You  have  sighted  in  the  distance 
universities,  institutions,  even  factories;  you  have  passed  through  many 
inhabited  portions  of  the  endless  boulevard,  but  you  have  not  actually 
touched  hands  with  the  city  since  you  left  it  at  the  beginning  of  the 
ride.  Then  at  last,  as  darkness  falls,  you  feel  that  you  are  coming  to 
the  city  again,  but  from  another  point  of  the  compass.  You  have 
rounded  the  circle  of  its  millions.  You  need  only  think  of  the  unkempt, 
shabby,  and  tangled  outskirts  of  New  York,  or  of  any  other  capital 
city,  to  realize  the  miracle  that  Chicago  has  put  among  her  assets. 

You  descry  lanes  of  water  in  the  twilight,  and  learn  that  in  order 
to  prevent  her  drainage  from  going  into  the  lake  Chicago  turned  a  river 
back  in  its  course  and  compelled  it  to  discharge  ultimately  into  the 
Mississippi.  That  is  the  story.  You  feel  that  it  is  exactly  what  Chicago, 


266  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

alone  among  cities,  would  have  the  imagination  and  the  courage  to  do. 
Some  man  must  have  risen  from  his  bed  one  morning  with  the  idea, 
"Why  not  make  the  water  flow  the  other  way?"  And  then  gone, 
perhaps  diffidently,  to  his  fellows  in  charge  of  the  city  with  the  suggestive 
query,  "Why  not  make  the  water  flow  the  other  way?"  And  been 
laughed  at!  Only  the  thing  was  done  in  the  end!  I  seem  to  have  heard 
that  there  was  an  epilogue  to  this  story,  relating  how  certain  other 
great  cities  showed  a  narrow  objection  to  Chicago  draining  herself  in 
the  direction  of  the  Mississippi,  and  how  Chicago,  after  all,  succeeded  in 
persuading  those  whom  it  was  necessary  to  persuade  that,  whereas 
her  drainage  was  unsuited  to  Lake  Michigan,  it  would  consort  well 
with  the  current  of  the  Mississippi. 

And  then,  in  the  night  and  in  the  rain,  you  swerve  round  some 
corner  into  the  straight,  by  Grant  Park,  in  full  sight  of  one  of  the  most 
dazzling  spectacles  that  Chicago  or  any  other  city  can  offer — Michigan 
Avenue  on  a  wet  evening.  Each  of  the  thousands  of  electric  standards 
in  Michigan  Avenue  is  a  cluster  of  six  huge  globes  (and  yet  they  will 
tell  you  in  Paris  that  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  is  the  best-lit  street  in  the 
world),  and  here  and  there  is  a  red  globe  of  warning.  The  two  lines  of 
light  pour  down  their  flame  into  the  pool  which  is  the  roadway,  and  you 
travel  continually  toward  an  incandescent  floor  without  ever  quite 
reaching  it,  beneath  mysterious  words  of  fire  hanging  in  the  invisible 
sky!  The  automobile  stops.  You  get  out,  stiff,  and  murmur  something 
inadequate  about  the  length  and  splendor  of  those  boulevards.  "Oh," 
you  are  told,  carelessly,  "  those  are  only  the  interior  boulevards.  Noth- 
ing! You  should  see  our  exterior  boulevards — not  quite  finished  yet!" 


THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  MATTER 

(From"  From  Dublin  to  Chicago,"  by  George  A.  Birmingham;  copyright 191 4, 
by  George  H.  Doran  Company) 

CHICAGO  possesses  one  exceedingly  good  hotel.  We  know 
this  by  experience.  The  other  hotels  in  the  city  may  be 
equally  good,  but  we  shall  never  try  them.  Having  found 
one  almost  perfect  hotel,  we  shall,  whenever  we  visit  that 
city  again,  go  back  to  it.  But  I  expect  that  all  the  other  hotels  there  are 
good  too,  very  good;  for  Chicago  appears  to  take  an  interest  in  its  hotels. 
In  most  cities,  perhaps  in  all  other  cities,  hotels  are  good  or  bad  according 
as  their  managers  are  efficient  or  the  reverse.  The  city  itself  does  not 
care  about  its  hotels  any  more  than  it  cares  about  its  bootmakers.  A 
London  bootmaker  might  provide  very  bad  leather  for  the  soles  of  a 
stranger's  boots.  The  Times  would  not  deal  with  that  bootmaker  in 
a  special  article.  It  might  be  very  difficult  to  obtain  hot  water  in  one 
of  the  great  London  hotels — I  have  seen  it  stated,  on  the  authority  of 
an  American,  that  it  is  very  difficult — but  London  itself  does  not  care 
whether  it  is  or  not.  The  soling  of  boots  and  the  comfort  of  casual  guests 
are,  according  to  the  generally  prevailing  view,  affairs  best  settled 
between  the  people  directly  interested,  the  traveler  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  bootmaker  or  manager  on  the  other.  No  one  else  thinks  that  he 
has  a  right  to  interfere. 

Chicago  takes  a  different  view.  It  has  a  sense  of  civic  responsi- 
bility for  its  hotels,  possibly  also  for  its  bootmakers.  I  did  not  try  the 
bootmakers  and  therefore  cannot  say  anything  certainly  about  them. 
But  I  am  sure  about  the  hotels.  It  happened  that  there  was  a  letter 
awaiting  my  arrival  at  the  hotel,  the  very  excellent  hotel,  in  which  we 
stayed.  This  letter  was  not  immediately  delivered  to  me.  I  believe 
that  I  ought  to  have  asked  for  it,  that  the  hotel  manager  expects  guests 
to  ask  for  letters,  and  that  I  had  no  reasonable  ground  of  complaint 
when  the  letter  was  not  delivered  to  me.  Nor  did  I  complain.  I  am 
far  too  meek  a  man  to  complain  about  anything  in  a  large  hotel.  I  am 
desperately  afraid  of  hotel  officials.  They  are  all  much  grander  than  I 
am  and  occupy  far  more  important  positions  in  the  world.  I  should  not 


268  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

grumble  if  a  princess  trod  on  my  toe.  Princesses  have  a  right,  owing 
to  the  splendor  of  their  position,  to  trample  on  me.  But  I  would  rather 
grumble  at  a  princess  than  complain  to  a  head  waiter  or  the  clerk  in 
charge  of  the  offices  of  a  large  hotel.  Princesses  are  common  clay  com- 
pared to  these  functionaries.  But  even  if  I  were  a  very  brave  man, 
and  even  if  I  believed  that  one  man  was  as  good  as  another  and  I  the 
equal  of  the  manager  of  a  large  hotel,  I  should  not  have  complained 
about  the  failure  to  deliver  that  letter.  The  hotel  when  we  were  there 
was  very  full,  and  full  of  the  most  important  kind  of  people,  doctors. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  such  a  trifle  as  a  letter  for  me  would 
engage  the  attention  of  anybody. 

Next  morning  there  was  a  paragraph  in  one  of  the  leading  Chicago 
papers  about  my  letter  and  the  manager  of  the  hotel  was  told  plainly, 
in  clear  print,  that  he  must  do  his  business  better  than  he  did.  I  was 
astonished  when  the  manager,  taking  me  solemnly  apart,  showed  me 
the  paragraph,  astonished  and  terror-stricken.  I  apologized  at  once 
for  daring  to  have  a  letter  addressed  to  me  at  his  hotel.  I  apologized 
for  not  asking  for  it  when  I  arrived.  I  apologized  for  the  trouble  his 
staff  had  been  put  to  in  carrying  the  letter  up  to  my  room  in  the  end. 
Then  I  stopped  apologizing  because,  to  my  amazement,  the  manager 
began.  He  apologized  so  amply  that  I  came  gradually  to  feel  as  if  I 
were  not  entirely  in  the  wrong.  Also  I  realized  why  it  is  that  this 
hotel — and  no  doubt  all  the  others  in  Chicago — is  so  superlatively  good. 
Chicago  keeps  an  eye  on  them.  The  press  is  alive  to  the  fact  that  every 
citizen  of  a  great  city,  even  a  hotel  manager,  should  do  not  merely  his 
duty  but  more,  should  practice  counsels  of  perfection,  perform  works 
of  supererogation,  deliver  letters  which  are  not  asked  for. 

The  incident  is  in  itself  unimportant,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  illustrate 
the  spirit  of  Chicago.  It  is  a  great  city  and  is  determined  to  get  things 
done  right.  It  has  besides,  and  this  is  its  rare  distinction,  an  unfaltering 
conviction  that  it  can  get  things  done  right.  Most  communities  are 
conscious  of  some  limitations  of  their  powers.  For  Chicago  there  are 
no  limitations  at  all  anywhere.  Whatever  ought  to  be  done  Chicago 
will  do.  Nothing  is  too  small,  nothing  too  great  to  be  attempted  and 
carried  through.  It  may  be  an  insignificant  matter,  like  the  comfort  of 
a  helpless  and  foolish  stranger.  It  may  be  a  problem  against  which 
civilized  society  has  broken  its  teeth  for  centuries,  like  the  evil  of  pros- 
titution. Chicago  is  convinced  that  it  can  be  got  right  and  Chicago 
means  to  do  it. 

I  admire  this  sublime  self-confidence.  I  ought  always  to  be  happy 
when  I  am  among  men  who  have  it,  because  I  was  born  in  Belfast  and 


THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  MATTER  269 

the  first  air  I  breathed  was  charged  with  exactly  this  same  intensely 
bracing  ozone  of  strong-willedness. 

Belfast  is  very  like  Chicago.  If  a  Belfast  man  were  taken  while 
asleep  and  transported  on  a  magic  carpet  to  Chicago,  he  would  not, 
on  waking  up,  feel  that  anything  very  strange  had  happened  to  him. 
The  outward  circumstances  of  life  would  indeed  be  different,  but  he 
would  find  himself  in  all  essential  respects  at  home.  He  would  talk 
to  men  who  said  "We  will,"  with  a  conviction  that  their  "We  will" 
is  the  last  word  which  can  or  need  be  said  on  any  subject;  just  as  he  had 
all  his  life  before  talked  to  men  who  said,  "We  won't,"  with  the  same 
certainty  that  beyond  their  "We  won't"  there  was  nothing. 

Chicago  is,  indeed,  greater  than  Belfast,  not  merely  in  the  number 
of  its  inhabitants  and  the  importance  of  its  business,  but  in  the  fact 
that  it  asserts  where  Belfast  denies.  It  is  a  greater  and  harder  thing 
to  say  "Yes"  than  "No."  But  there  is  a  spiritual  kinship  between  the 
two  places  in  that  both  of  them  mean  what  they  say  and  are  quite  sure 
that  they  can  make  good  their  "yes"  and  "no"  against  the  world. 
If  all  the  rest  of  America  finds  itself  up  against  Chicago  as  the  British 
empire  is  at  present  up  against  Belfast,  the  result  will  be  the  bewilder- 
ment of  the  rest  of  America. 

I  was  in  Chicago  only  for  a  short  time.  I  did  not  see  any  of  the 
things  which  visitors  usually  see  there.  I  went  there  with  certain 
prejudices.  I  had  read,  like  every  one  else,  Mr.  Upton  Sinclair's  account 
of  the  slaughter  of  pigs  in  Chicago.  I  had  read  several  times  over  the 
late  Mr.  Frank  Norris's  "The  Pit."  I  had  read  and  heard  many  things 
about  the  wonderful  work  of  Miss  Jane  Addams.  I  had  a  vague  idea 
that  Chicago  was  both  better  and  worse  than  other  places,  that  God 
and  the  devil  had  joined  battle  there  more  definitely  than  elsewhere, 
that  the  points  at  issue  were  plainer,  that  there  was  something  nearer 
to  a  straight  fight  in  Chicago  between  good  and  evil  than  we  find  in 
other  places. 

"We  are  here,"  says  Matthew  Arnold,  "as  on  a  darkling  plain, 
Swept  with  confused  alarms  of  struggle  and  flight, 
Where  ignorant  armies  strive  by  night." 

In  Chicago  I  felt  the  armies  would  be  less  ignorant,  the  alarms  a  little 
less  confused.  I  am  not  sure  now  that  this  is  so.  It  may  be  quite  as 
hard  in  Chicago  as  it  is  anywhere  else  to  find  out  quite  certainly  what  is 
right;  which,  in  certain  tangled  matters,  is  God's  side  and  which  the 
devil's.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Chicago  man,  any  more  than  the 
Belfast  man,  is  tormented  with  the  paralysis  of  indecision.  He  may 


270  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

and  very  likely  will  do  a  great  many  things  which  will  turn  out  in  the 
end  not  to  be  good  things.  But  he  will  do  them  quite  unfalteringly. 
When,  having  done  them,  he  has  time  to  look  around  at  the  far  side  of 
them,  he  may  discover  that  there  was  some  mistake  about  them  some- 
where. Then  he  will  undo  them  and  do  something  else  instead  with 
the  same  vigorous  conviction.  He  will,  in  any  case,  keep  on  doing 
things  and  believing  in  them. 

I  was  in  a  large  bookseller's  shop  while  I  was  in  Chicago.  It  was 
so  large  that  it  was  impossible  to  discover  with  any  certainty  what 
pleases  Chicago  most  in  the  way  of  literature.  There  seemed  to  me  to 
be  copies  of  every  book  I  had  ever  heard  of  waiting  there  for  buyers, 
and,  I  presume,  they  would  not  wait  unless  buyers  were  likely  to  come. 
But  I  was  struck  with  the  very  large  number  of  books  dealing  with  those 
subjects  which  may  be  classed  roughly  under  the  term  eugenics.  There 
were  more  of  these  books  in  that  shop  than  I  had  ever  seen  before.  I 
should  not  have  guessed  that  there  were  so  many  in  the  world.  I  may, 
of  course,  have  received  a  wrong  impression.  This  particular  shop 
had  its  books  arranged  according  to  subjects.  There  was  not,  as 
generally  in  England  and  Ireland,  a  counter  devoted  to  the  latest  pub- 
lications, or  a  series  of  shelves  given  over  to  books  priced  at  a  shilling. 
In  this  shop  all  books  on  economics,  for  example,  whether  old  or  new, 
cheap  or  dear,  were  in  one  place;  all  books  on  music  in  another  and  so 
forth.  The  idea  underlying  the  arrangement  being  that  a  customer 
knows  more  or  less  the  subject  he  wants  to  read  about  and  is  pleased  to 
find  all  books  on  that  subject  ready  waiting  for  him  in  rows.  Our  idea, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  which  underlies  the  arrangements  of  our  shops, 
is  that  a  customer  wants,  perhaps  a  new  book,  perhaps  a  ten-and-six- 
penny  book,  perhaps  a  shilling  book,  without  minding  much  what  the 
book  is  about.  He  is  best  suited  by  finding  all  the  new  books  in  one 
place,  all  the  ten-and-sixpenny  books  in  another,  and  all  the  shilling 
books  in  a  third.  I  do  not  know  which  is  the  better  plan,  but  that 
adopted  in  the  Chicago  shop  has  the  effect  of  making  the  casual  customer 
realize  the  very  large  number  of  books  there  are  on  every  subject.  I 
may  therefore  have  been  deceived  about  the  popularity  of  books  on 
eugenics  in  Chicago.  There  may  be  no  more  on  sale  there  than  else- 
where. But  I  think  there  are.  Of  some  of  these  books  there  were  very 
large  numbers,  twenty  or  thirty  copies  of  a  single  book  all  standing  in 
a  row.  Plainly  it  was  anticipated  that  there  were  in  Chicago  twenty 
or  thirty  people  who  would  want  that  particular  book.  I  never,  in  any 
book  shop  elsewhere,  saw  more  than  five  or  six  copies  of  a  eugenic  book 
in  stock  at  the  same  time.  I  also  noticed  that  the  majority  of  these 


THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  MATTER  271 

books  were  cheap;  not  detailed  and  elaborate  treatises  on,  let  us  say, 
Weissmannism  and  the  mechanism  of  heredity;  but  short  handbooks, 
statements  of  conclusions  supposed  to  be  arrived  at  and  practical  advice 
suited  to  plain  people.  I  formed  the  opinion  that  the  study  of  eugenics 
is  popular  in  Chicago,  more  popular  than  elsewhere,  and  that  a  good 
many  people  believe  that  some  good  is  to  be  got  out  of  knowing  what 
science  has  to  teach  on  these  subjects. 

I  was  told  by  a  man  who  ought  to  have  known  that  these  books 
are  steadily  becoming  more  popular.  The  demand  for  them  was  very 
small  five  years  ago.  It  is  very  large  now  and  becoming  steadily  larger. 
This  seems  to  me  a  very  interesting  thing.  For  a  long  time  people  were 
content  just  to  take  children  as  they  came,  and  they  did  not  bother 
much  about  the  hows  and  the  whys  of  the  business.  Grown-up  men 
and  women  did  not  indeed  believe  that  storks  dropped  babies  down 
chimneys  or  that  doctors  brought  them  in  bags.  But  they  might  just 
as  well  have  believed  these  things  for  all  the  difference  such  knowledge 
as  they  had  made  in  their  way  of  conducting  the  business.  Their 
philosophy  was  summed  up  in  a  proverb.  "When  God  sends  the  mouth 
He  sends  the  food  to  fill  it."  To  go  further  into  the  details  struck 
people,  twenty  years  ago,  as  rather  a  disgusting  proceeding. 

Now  we  have  all,  everywhere,  grown  out  of  this  primitive  innocence. 
We  have  been  driven  away  from  our  old  casual  ways  of  reproducing 
ourselves,  and  are  forced  to  think  about  what  we  are  doing.  There  is 
nothing  very  interesting  or  curious  about  this.  It  is  simply  a  rather 
unpleasant  fact.  What  is  interesting  is  that  Chicago  seems  to  be  think- 
ing more  than  the  rest  of  us,  is  at  all  events  more  interested  than  the 
rest  of  us  in  the  range  of  subjects  which  I  have  very  roughly  called 
eugenics.  Chicago  is,  apparently,  buying  more  books  on  these  subjects, 
and  presumably  buys  them  in  order  to  read  them.  Is  this  a  symptom 
of  the  existence  of  a  latent  vein  of  weakness  in  Chicago? 

I  am  not  a  very  good  judge  of  a  question  of  this  sort.  The  whole 
subject  of  eugenics  and  all  the  other  subjects  which  are  associated  with 
it  are  extremely  distasteful  to  me.  I  like  to  think  of  young  men  and 
young  women  falling  in  love  with  each  other  and  getting  married  because 
they  are  in  love  without  considering  overmuch  the  almost  inevitable 
consequences  until  these  are  forced  upon  them.  I  fancy  that  in  an 
entirely  healthy  community  things  would  be  managed  in  this  way, 
and  that  the  result,  generally  speaking  and  taking  a  wide  number  of 
cases  into  consideration,  would  be  a  race  of  wholesome,  sound  children, 
fairly  well  endowed  with  natural  powers  and  fitted  to  meet  the  struggle 
of  life.  But  Chicago  evidently  thinks  otherwise.  The  subject  of 


1J1  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  CHICAGO 

eugenics  is  studied  there,  and,  as  a  consequence  of  the  study,  a  number 
of  clergy  of  various  churches  have  declared  they  will  not  marry  people 
who  are  suffering  from  certain  diseases.  They  have  all  reason  on  their 
side.  I  admit  it.  I  have  nothing  to  urge  against  them  except  an  old- 
fashioned  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  fullest  possible  liberty  to  the  indi- 
vidual. Yet  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  it  is  not  a  sign  of  strength  in  a 
community  that  it  should  think  very  much  about  these  things.  A  man 
seldom  worries  about  his .  digestion  or  reads  books  about  his  stomach 
until  his  stomach  and  his  digestion  have  gone  wrong  and  begun  to  worry 
him.  A  great  interest  in  what  is  going  on  in  our  insides  is  either  a  sign 
that  things  are  not  going  on  properly  or  else  a  deliberate  invitation  to 
our  insides  to  give  us  trouble.  It  is  the  same  with  the  community. 
But  I  should  not  like  to  think  that  anything  either  is  or  soon  will  be  the 
matter  with  Chicago.  It  would  be  a  lamentable  loss  to  the  world  if 
Chicago's  definite  "I  will"  were  to  weaken,  if  the  native  hue  of  this 
magnificent,  self-confident  resolution  were  to  be  sicklied  o'er  with  a 
pale  cast  of  thought. 

At  present,  at  all  events,  there  is  very  little  sign  of  any  such  disaster. 
It  happened  that  while  we  were  in  Chicago  there  was  some  sort  of  Con- 
gress of  literary  men.  They  dined  together,  of  course,  as  all  civilized 
men  do  when  they  meet  to  take  counsel  together  on  any  subject  except 
the  making  of  laws.  In  all  probability  laws  would  be  better  made  if 
Parliaments  were  dining  clubs;  but  this  is  too  wide  a  subject  for  me  to 
discuss.  The  literary  men  who  met  in  Chicago  had  a  dinner,  and  I 
was  highly  honored  by  receiving  an  invitation  to  it.  I  wish  it  had  been 
possible  for  me  to  be  there.  I  could  not  manage  it,  but  I  did  the  next 
best  thing,  I  read  the  report  of  the  proceedings  in  the  papers  on  the 
following  morning.  One  speaker  said  that  he  looked  forward  to  the  day 
when  Chicago  would  be  the  world  center  of  literature,  music  and  art. 
He  was  not,  of  course,  a  stranger,  one  of  the  literary  men  who  had  gath- 
ered there  from  various  parts  of  America.  He  was  a  citizen  of  Chicago. 
No  stranger  would  have  ventured  to  say  so  magnificent  a  thing.  As 
long  as  Chicago  says  things  like  that,  simply  and  unaffectedly,  and 
believes  them,  Chicago  can  study  eugenics  as  much  as  it  likes,  might 
even  devote  itself  to  Christian  Science  or  take  to  Spiritualism.  It 
would  still  remain  strong  and  sane.  For  this  was  not  a  silly  boast,  made 
in  the  name  of  a  community  which  knows  nothing  of  literature,  music 
or  art.  Chicago  knows  perfectly  well  what  literature  is  and  what  art 
is.  Chicago  understands  what  England  has  done  in  literature  and  art, 
what  France  has  done,  what  Germany  has  done.  Chicago  has  even 
a  very  good  idea  of  what  Athens  did.  If  I  were  to  say  that  I  looked 


THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  MATTER  273 

forward  to  inventing  a  perfect  flying  machine  I  should  be  a  fool,  because 
I  know  nothing  whatever  about  flying  machines  and  have  not  the 
dimmest  idea  of  what  the  difficulties  of  making  them  are.  If  Chicago 
were  as  ignorant  about  literature  and  art  as  I  am  about  aeronautics, 
its  hope  of  becoming  the  world  center  of  these  things  would  be  fit  matter 
for  a  comic  paper.  What  makes  this  boast  so  impressive  is  just  the 
fact  that  Chicago  knows  quite  well  what  it  means. 

There  are  no  bounds  to  what  a  man  can  do  except  his  own  self-  j 
distrust.     There  is  nothing  beyond  the  reach  of  a  city  which  unfalter-  j 
ingly  believes  in  itself.     No  other  city  believes  in  itself  quite  so  whole-  i 
heartedly  as  Chicago  does,  and  I  expect  Chicago  will  be  the  world, 
center  of  literature,  music  and  art.     There  is  nothing  to  stop  it,  unless 
indeed  Chicago  itself  gives  up  the  idea  and  chooses  to  be  something 
else  instead.     It  may,  I  hope  it  will,  decide  to  be  the  New  Jerusalem, 
with  gates  of  pearl  and  streets  of  gold  and  a  tree  of  life  growing  in  the 
midst  of  it.     Then  Chicago  will  be  the  New  Jerusalem  and  I  shall 
humbly  sue  to  be  admitted  as  a  citizen.     My  petition  will,  I  am  sure, 
be  granted,  for  the  hospitality  of  the  people  of  Chicago  seems  to  me  to 
exceed,  if  that  be  possible,  the  hospitality  of  other  parts  of  America. 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  should  be  altogether  happy  there,  even  under  the 
new,  perfected  conditions  of  life;  but  perhaps  I  may.     I  was  indeed 
born  in  Belfast,  and  as  a  young  man  shared  its  spirit.    That  gives  me 
hope.     But  I  left  Belfast  early  in  life.     I  have  dwelt  much  among  other  . 
peoples,  and  learned  self-distrust.     It  may  be  too  late  for  me  to  go  back  i 
to  my  youth  and  learn  confidence  again.     If  it  is  too  late,  I  shall  not 
be  really  happy  in  Chicago. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbott,  James,  Detroit  merchant,  64. 
Abbott,  Lucius,  army  surgeon,  97. 
Abbott,  Robert,  Detroit  merchant,  64. 
Abbott,  Samuel,  Mackinac  merchant,  64-65. 
Aberdeen  (Scotland),  native,  233. 
Aranscas  Indians.     See  Quapaw. 
"Adams,"  United  States  brig,  61-62. 
Addams,  Jane,  mentioned,  269. 
Aiken,  Ann,  at  Chicago,  77. 
Aiken,    Mary    Ann,     married,    75-76,    96; 

death,  53,  77. 

Akanscas  Indians.     See  Quapaw. 
A  la  Roche  River.     See  Rock. 
Albany  (N.  Y.),  route  via,  61,  82,  185. 
Alexandre,  lay  brother  at  Chicago,  40-41. 
Allegheny  River,  lumber  transportation  via, 

197- 

Allison,  Andrew,  negro  servant,  109, 111-12. 
Allouez  (Daloues),  Jean  Claude,  mission  to 

the  Miami,  57;  sketch,  28. 
America  Today,  205;  reprint  from,  253-57. 
American  Fur  Company,  at  Mackinac,  75. 
Amoreau     (La     Taupine,     La     Toupine), 

Pierre,  trader,  16. 
Anastase,  Father.     See  Douay. 
Anderson,  Melville  B.,  editor,  u. 
Annals  of  Chicago,  reprint  from,  193-99. 
Ann  Arbor  (Anne  Arbor)   (Mich.),  signif- 
icance of  name,  209. 
Antiquities,  Indian  fortifications,  126. 
Antrim  County  (Ireland),  native,  226. 
Appleton's  Journal  of  Literature,  Science  and 

Art,  171. 
Archer,  William,  America  Today,  205,  253- 

57;  visits  Chicago,  205. 
Arkansas,  cane  brakes  in,  113. 
Arkansas  River,  Cavelier's  party  at,  21. 
Armour  &  Company,  packing  houses,  227-28. 
Armstrong,  G.  B.,  founder  of  railway  mail 

service,  225-26. 
Army  officers,  at  Chicago,  61-70,  104,  106, 

123,  141-42;  Green  Bay,  83;  Mackinac, 

74-75;  marriages,  96. 
Arpent,  meaning  of,  27. 
Asphalt,  near  Milwaukee,  102. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  fur  merchant,  75. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  204;  reprint  from,  221-24. 
Auburn  (N.  Y.),  route  via,  82. 
Aurora  (Big  Woods,  111.),  in  the  Black  Hawk 

War,  138. 


Australia,  resident,  131. 

Aux  Plaines  River.     See  DCS  Plaines. 

Baird,   Mrs.   Elizabeth   Therese,  describes 

wedding,  75;  visits  Chicago,  78,  95-97; 

sketch,  53. 
Baker,  Lieut.  Daniel,  at  Fort  Dearborn,  78, 

80,  89;  goes  to  Green  Bay,  97. 
Baker,  Jerusha,  illness,  97. 
Balestier,  Joseph   N.,  Annals  of  Chicago, 

'93-991.  lectures    at     Chicago,     132; 

prophesies    Chicago's    greatness,    203; 

traveler,  180. 

Bangs  and  Kirkland,  attorneys,  230. 
Banks,  inflated  note  circulation,  194. 
Baptists,  Indian  missions,  115. 
Beads,  as  Indian  present,  17. 
Beats,  — ,  message  for,  65. 
Beaubien,     Jean     Baptiste,     Chicago     fur 

trader,  96;  homestead  claim,  178. 
Beaubien  family,  at  Chicago,  96. 

;gs,  Stephen   R.,  Pages  from  the  Early 

History  of  the  West  and  Northwest,  130, 

135-42;  sketch,  130. 
Beggs,  Mrs.  Stephen  R.,  in  Black  Hawk 

War,  137,  140-41 ;  Indians  annoy,  137. 
Beggs,  Fort.     See  Fort   Beggs. 
Belief ontaine,  Sieur  de,  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  2 1 . 
Bemis,  — ,  acts  as  guide,  109. 
Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  biographical  note,  227. 
Bennett,   Arnold,   at   Chicago,   205;    Your 

United  States,  205,  263-66. 
Benton,  Thomas  H.,  attacks  factory  system, 

80-8 1. 

Bertrand  (Ind.),  location,  57. 
Big  Woods  (III.).     See  Aurora. 
Biloxi  (Miss.),  Tonty's  death  at,  n. 
Bineteau  (Binetot,   Binneteau,  Binnetost), 

Julien,  missionary,  40-41,  43,  45. 
Binetot.     See   Bineteau. 
Binneteau.     See  Bineteau. 
Binnetost.     See   Bineteau. 
Birmingham,     George,     From     Dublin    to 

Chicago,  reprint  from,  266-73;  pen  name 

of  Hannay,  205. 
Bismarck   •   Schonhausen,    Otto    Eduard, 

Prince     von,     opinion     of     American 

reporters,  250. 
Black   Bird,  Potawatomi  chief  at  Chicago 

massacre,  106. 


INDEX 


Black  Hawk,  pursued,  142;  takes  prisoners, 

138. 
Black    Hawk    War,    Chicago    during,    67, 

129-30,   135-42. 

Black  Partridge,  rescues  Mrs.  Helm,  96. 
Blackbirds,  destroy  crops,  121. 
Blue-grass  River,  in  Indiana,  109. 
Boisrondet,    Sieur   de,   agent   at   Fort   St. 

Louis,  21,  26-27,  31;  employs  Joutel, 

33;  privations  of,  24. 
Boston  (Mass.),  Bennett  at,  263. 
Bouchette,    — ,    French    writer,    describes 

Lake  Erie,  208. 
Bourget,    Paul,    Outre-  Mer,    205,    235-52; 

visits  Chicago,  205. 
Bradley,  Capt.  Hezekiah,  at  Chicago,  76, 

So,  102;  buries  remains  of   massacre, 

119. 

Brady,  Fort.     See  Fort  Brady. 
Brandy,  French  forbidden  to  sell  to  Indians, 

29. 

Bremer,  Agatha,  letter  to,  207. 
Bremer,  Fredrika,  at  Chicago,  203,  211-16; 

describes     Illinois     prairies,     211-12; 

Homes  of  the  New  World,  203,  207-16; 

tours  United  States,  204. 
Brevoort,  Com.   Henry,  lake  captain,  61, 

65- 

Bricks,  made  at  Chicago,  103. 

British,  capture  Quebec,  61 ;  in  Revolution, 
64;  in  War  of  1812,  63,  67,  71,  84,  95, 
105;  propose  colony  in  the  Illinois, 
28-29;  prisoners,  29;  travelers,  130-31, 
205,  231-32. 

Brown,  Gen.  — ,  in  Black  Hawk  War,  138. 

Brown,  Gen.  Jacob,  report  to,  53. 

Brownsville  (N.  Y.),  Storrow  visits,  53. 

"Buckeye,"  native  of  Ohio,  162. 

Buckmaster,  Capt.  — ,  militia  officer,  140. 

Buffalo  (N.  Y.),  Fredrika  Bremer  at,  204, 
207-8;  in  War  of  1812,  71;  lake  port, 
61,  72,  82,  186. 

Bull  Run  (Va.),  Russell  reports  battle  of, 
204. 

Burgoyne,  Gen.  John,  officer  with,  64. 

Burlington  (la.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  com- 
pany at,  190. 

Buzzards,  near  Lake  Michigan,  101. 

Cache,  Isle  a  la,  St.  Cosme  at,  41. 

Cahokia  (Chaouacha,  Kaoukias)  Indians, 
attack  on,  43;  mentioned,  44. 

Calameck   Creek.     Se2   Calumet   River. 

Calaminc  River.     See  Calumet. 

Calumet  (111.),  suburb  of  Chicago,  230. 

Calumet  (Wis.),  Menominee  Indian  village, 
84-85. 

Calumet  (Calameck,  Calaminc,  Kennomick, 
Konomick)  River,  crossed,  91;  de- 
scribed, 59,  104;  forded,  91,  118; 
Indians  on,  62;  mouth  of,  81,  107; 


portage   to,    123;    route   via,    145-47; 

trading  post  near,  163-64;  tributary  of 

Lake  Michigan,  59,  166. 
Calumet-Des  Plaines  Portage,  123. 
Camp  Smith,  post  at  Green  Bay,  97. 
Canada,     Chicago     residents     from,     62; 

England  controls,  49;  goods  from,  27; 

natives,  75;  strait  connects  with  Lake 

Michigan,  208;  travelers  from,  148-49, 

204,  217;  visited,  53,  144. 
Canal,    proposed    at    Chicago,    103,    123, 

177-78. 
Canal  Port,  breaking  of  ground  for  Illinois 

and  Michigan  Canal  at,  196. 
Canoe,   described,    112-13. 
Carey,  mission  station,  116,  120,  161. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  early  Methodist  preacher, 

130. 

Cass,  Gen.  Lewis,  tour  of  1820,  53,  99-108. 
Catholics,  in  St.  Louis,  136-37. 
Cavelier,  Jean,  brother  of  La  Salle,  n,  31; 

expedition,  10,  21,  23,  25,  28;  Indians 

accompany,  32,  35. 
Cenis    (Senys)    Indians,    Cavelier's    party 

meets,  24. 

Cerfs,  Isle  aux,  route  via,  41. 
Chachagwesiiou,    Illinois    Indian,    accom- 
panies Marquette,  16. 
Chachouannons  Indians.     See  Shawnee. 
Chahouannons  Indians.     See  Shawnee. 
Chambers,    Col.    Talbot,   commandant   at 

Mackinac,  74. 
"Chancellor    Livingston,"    Hudson    River 

steamboat,  82. 

Chandonee.  Sea  Chandonnais. 
Chandonnais,  Charles,  stain,  95. 
Chandonnais  (Chandonee),  Jean  Baptiste, 

at  Chicago,  95-96;  sketch,  95. 
Chandonnais,    Madame    Marie   Chapoton, 

visits  Chicago,  95-96. 
Chaouacha  Indians.     See  Cahokia. 
Chapoton,  Marie.     See  Chandonnais. 
Charbonneau,  — ,  accompanies  expedition, 

42,  45- 

Chase,  — ,  on  Cass  s  expedition,  99. 

Chawanons  Indians.     See  Shawnee. 

Checaguar  River  (Iowa).    See  Skunk. 

"Chemokomans,"  Indian  term  for  Amer- 
icans, 80. 

Chicago  (Chicagou,  Chigaou,  Chikagou, 
Etpikagou),  Archer  describes,  253; 
architecture,  218-19,  222,  225,  237, 
254^;  Auditorium,  235,  255;  Mrs.  Baird 
visits,  53,  95-97;  Bennett  at,  263; 
Birmingham  at,  267-68;  bookshops, 
270;  Bourget  describes,  235-38;  boule- 
vards, 255-56;  Fredrika  Bremer  at, 
211,  214-15;  Cass  visits,  102,  104; 
Cavelier  at,  33-34;  cemetery,  77,  80; 
cholera  at,  141;  climate,  89,  121,  169; 
commercial  activities,  218,  224,  236- 


INDEX 


279 


37;  criticisms  of,  256-57;  custom  house, 
225;  described,  177,  221-22;  during 
Black  Hawk  War,  135-42;  elevated 
roads,  261;  excursion  party  from,  180- 
84;  expressfrom,  109;  exports  from,  198, 
243;  field  houses,  261 ;  fire  at,  225,  236; 
Germans  at,  215;  Grant  Park,  266; 
Hoffman  visits,  166-75;  hotels,  267-68; 
importance  predicted,  92,  103,  122, 

129,  132-33,    197;    Indian   treaty   at, 

130,  143.    146,    153.    158-60,    165-66; 
Jefferson  family  at,  187;  Jesuit  mission, 

II,  40;  Joutel  describes,  22;  Lake  House 
hotel  at,  180;  land  speculation,  177-78; 
latitude  and   longitude,   125;  Latrobe 
at,   156-57;  Lincoln  Park,  253;  Long 
visits,  54,  119-25;  Lyceum,  132;  mail 
route  to,    161-66;   Marquette  at,   10; 
Masonic  Temple,  254,  259;  Method- 
ism established  in,  135-37,  140;  Mid- 
way Plaisance,  261;  military  outpost, 
50;  museum,  239;  Packingtown,  260; 
Parks  Commission,  261 ;  playgrounds, 
261;  police  system,  228-29,  238;  popu- 
lation, 187,  215,  217-18;  press,  245-48; 
Public  Library,  256;   railroad  center, 
264;  rapid  growth,  167,  170,  203,  231, 
237-38,   260;  records  of,  9;  rents  in, 
219;  Rookery,  254;  route  to,  38,  55-60, 
83-89,  114,  144,  174;  Russell  at,  225; 
St.  Cosme  at,  39-41;  Schoolcraft  at, 
102-4;  self-consciousness  of,  264;  self- 
confidence  of,  268,  273;  significance  of 
name,  22,  121;  slums,  253;  social  life, 
79,    167-68,    171,    178,   272-73;   stock- 
yards, 238-44,  257,  259-60;  Storrow  at, 
52,    89-90;    Swedes   at,   215;    theatre, 
early,    187-88,    218;   trails   center   at, 
121 ;   uncleanliness,   226,   233,   254-55, 
259,   264;   Varnum   at,   71-82;  water 
supply,  228;  Wilson  describes,  61-70; 
Windsor  Hotel,  255;  wolf  hunting  at, 
171-74;  Women's  Temperance  Temple, 
254.     See  also  Fort  Dearborn. 

Chicago  City  Club,  262. 

Chicago-Des  Plaines  Portage,   1 8,  22,  34- 

35,  40-41,  59,  90,  103,  122-23. 
Chicago-Detroit  Trail,  49-50,   57,  64,  69, 

104,   107,   114,   131. 
Chicago-Fort    Wayne    Trail,    55-60,    109, 

III,  114,  116. 

"Chicago  From  1803  to  1812,"  51,  61-70. 

Chicago  Historical  Society,  address  before, 
66;  Library,  50-52,  69. 

Chicago  Magazine,  established,  61. 

Chicago  River,  as  boundary,  58;  called  a 
creek,  102;  crossed,  89,  96;  described, 
68,  90,  95,  102-3,  '22;  distance  from 
Illinois  River,  170;  expedition  via, 
23-24;  house  at  forks,  62;  Marquette 
on,  15,  18;  post  at  mouth,  50,  59,  120, 


152;  tributary  of  Lake  Michigan,  34; 

used  for  canal,  198.    See  also  Chicago- 

Des   Plaines   Portage. 
Chicago  Times,  230. 
Chicago  Tribune,  Kirkland  literary  editor 

of,   230. 
Chickasaw     (Chikaihas)     Indians,    attack 

Cahokia  Indians,  43. 
Chikaihas  Indians.     See  Chickasaw. 
Chillicothe  (Ohio),  route  via,  64;  death  at, 

69. 

Chinese,  in  Chicago,  225. 
Chippewa,  Battle  of,  80. 
Chippewa  (Ochepewag)  Indians,  cede  lands, 

130;  defeat  Foxes,  126;  near  Chicago, 

125. 
Cincinnati    (Ohio),    death    at,    67;    mail 

from,  65. 
Civil  War,  affected  by  Erie  Canal,   129; 

importance  of  railroads  in,  244;  Russell 

newspaper     correspondent     for,    204; 

veterans  of,  230. 

"Clari,  the  Maid  of  Milan,"  drama,  190. 
Clark,  George  Rogers,  nephew,  74. 
Clark,  John  Kinzie,  at  Chicago,  62. 
Clark,  T.  B.,  pioneer  Methodist,  135. 
Clark  County  (Ind.),  resident,  142. 
Clay,  near  Chicago,  103;  near  Milwaukee, 

101-2,  124. 

Cleveland,  Grover,  mentioned,  246. 
Cliff-Dwellers,  The,  256. 
Coal,  in  Illinois,  26,  103,  198;  in  Ohio,  124. 
Colbert  River.     See  Mississippi. 
Colhoun,  —  ,  with  Long's  party,  118,  125. 
Collar,  as  Indian  present,  44. 
Cook,     Capt.     John,     fellow-traveler    of 

Latrobe,   146;  declaims  against   Brit- 

ishers, 149-52. 
Cook,  Mrs.  John,  fellow-traveler  of  Latrobe, 


Cook  County  (111.),  resident,  135. 

Cooking,  in  early  day,  96. 

Cooper,    Dr.    John,    at    Chicago,    61-70; 

Wilson's  informant,  51;  sketch,  61. 
Copper,  found  on  lake  shore,  124. 
Corliss  Centennial  Exhibition,  engine  dis- 

played, 230. 
Corn,  price  of,  36. 

Corpus  Christi  Battle,  in  Mexican  War,  66. 
Crevecoeur,  Fort,  called  "Checagou,"  22; 

La  Salle  builds,  43. 
Crimean    War,     Russell    newspaper    cor- 

respondent during,  204. 
Crow,  Dr.  Albion,  married,  75. 
Crows,  destroy  crops,  121. 
Cummings,  Maj.  Alexander,  commandant 

at  Chicago,  So. 

Daloues.     See  Allouez. 
Danville  (111.),  in  Black  Hawk  War,  137-38, 
141. 


280 


INDEX 


Davion,  Father  Antoine,  Seminary  mission- 
ary, at  Chicago,  40-41. 

Davis,  Gen.  Jefferson,  at  Chicago,  226-27; 
commands  Fort  Winnebago  (Wis.),  227. 

Davis,  Richard  Harding,  mentioned,  250. 

Davis  Farm,  massacre  at,  139. 

Dean,  John,  army  contractor,  78. 

Dean  and  McKenney,  theatrical  company, 
1 86. 

Dearborn,  Gen.  Henry,  fort  named  for,  65; 
secretary  of  war,  61. 

Dearborn,  Fort.     See  Fort  Dearborn. 

"Decatur,"  lake  schooner,  99. 

Delisle,  — ,  manuscript  of.  21. 

Denonyille,  Jacques  Rene  de  Brisay,  Mar- 
quis ilc,  campaign  against  Iroquois,  32. 

De  Pere  (Wis.),  mission  at,  lo,  38. 

Des  Bow  River.     See  Stick. 

Des  Plainest  (Aux  Plaines,  Oplain,  Plein) 
River,  junction  with  Kankakee,  63; 
portages  on,  41-42;  route  via,  lo,  lai, 
180-81;  source,  90.  See  also  Chicago- 
Des  Plaines  Portage. 

Detour,  Isle  du,  St.  Cosme  at,  38. 

Detroit  (Mich.),  described,  79;  expedition 
from,  49-50;  garrison  at,  64;  in  War  of 
1812,  65-66,  104;  lake  port,_99;  letter 
from,  64-65;  mayor,  99;  residents,  75, 
95,  99,  210;  route  via,  64,  68-69,  104-5, 
107,  131,  153,  161-66;  trade  at,  81,  92; 
visited,  52-53,  77-79,  81-82,  143,  208-9; 
voyage  via,  62,  72. 

Devil  River,  crossed,  114;  distance  to,  119. 

Discovery  Dance,  Indian  pantomine  dance, 
described,  179. 

Dodimead,  Catherine,  married,  79;  mother's 
death,  82;  returns  to  Detroit,  81. 

Dodimead,  Maria,  at  Chicago,  79;  death,8o. 

Dooley.     See  Dunne,  Finley  Peter. 

Door  Prairie  (Ind.),  letter  from,  161. 

Doty,  James  Duane,  on  Cass's  expedition, 
99;  sketch,  99. 

Douay,  Father  Anastase,  at  Fort  St.  Louis, 
25,  28. 

Douglass,  Capt.  David  B.,  with  Cass,  104; 
sketch,  104. 

Dousman,  John,  Mackinac  resident,  74. 

Dousman,  Michael,  Mackinac  resident,  74. 

Dousman,  Mrs.  Michael,  at  Prairie  du 
Chien,  96. 

Drake,  — ,  landlord,  226. 

Dublin  (Ireland),  traveler  from,  205. 

Dubuque,  Julien,  lead  mines  of,  102. 

Dubuque  (la.),  route  via,  189;  theatrical 
company  at,  190. 

Du  Cheinin  River.     See  Trail  Creek. 

Dunne  (Dooley),  Finley  Peter,  Chicago 
writer,  256. 

Durantaye  (Durentez),  Oliver  Mofel  de  la, 
commandant  at  Mackinac,  30. 

Durentez.     See  Durantaye. 


Du  Schmein  River.     See  Trail  Creek. 
Du  Sma  River.     See  Trail  Creek. 
Dutchess  County  (N.  Y.),  native,  61. 

Early  Voyages  up  and  down  the  Mississippi, 
cited.  12. 

Edinburgh  (Scotland),  traveler  from,  253. 

Eel  River,  tributary  of  Wabash,  55,  1 10. 

Elkhart  (Ind.),  location,  56. 

Elkhart  (Elkshart)  River,  crossed,  113-14; 
tributary  of,  US;  tributary  of  St. 
Joseph,  56,  91,  no,  114,  119. 

Emigration,  to  Australia,  131;  to  the  West, 
129-30. 

English.    See  British. 

Erie,  Lake,  route  via,  170,  1 86,  208;  tribu- 
tary, 90;  voyage  on,  61-62. 

Erie  (Pa.),  lake  port,  71-73. 

Erie  Canal,  begun,  93;  opened,  129;  trans- 
portation via,  185. 

Etnataek,  Indian  site,  126. 

Etpikagou.     See  Chicago. 

Eugenics,  study  of,  270-72. 

Evans,  Estwick,  Pedestrians  Tour.  108. 

Eveleth  (Evileth),  Lieut.  William  S., 
drowned  in  wreck,  107-8;  grave,  108. 

Exports,  increase  of,  at  Chicago,  198. 

Factory  system,  abolished.  71,  81;  attacked 
in  Congress,  80-81;  tor  Indian  trade, 
62-63,  7l-8i. 

Fats  Avoins  Indians.     See  Menominee. 

Fergus  Historical  Series,  132,  227. 

First  United  States  Infantry,  at  Detroit, 
64;  at  Fort  Dearborn,  62;  officers,  66. 

Fishkill  (N.  Y.),  natives,  61,  70,  106. 

Five  Medals,  Indian  chief,  56. 

Pollen,  Rev.  Charles  T.  C.,  traveler,  184; 
sketch,  1 80. 

Folles  Avoine  Indians.     See  Menominee. 

Fond  du  Lac  (Wis.),  Indian  village  near,  84. 

Forgyth,  Gen.  — ,  at  Chicago,  127,  230. 

Forsyth,  Robert  A.,  secretary  of  Cass,  104. 

Forsyth  family,  prominence,  104. 

Fort  Beggs,  in  Black  Hawk  War,  138-39, 141. 

Fort  Brady,  at  Mackinac,  74. 

Fort  Dearborn,  abandoned,  120,  140; 
agents,  62,  104,  120,  125,  141;  built, 
31,  65,  68,  50;  church  service  at,  135; 
commandants,  62-63,  65-66,  So,  102, 
105;  Davis  visits,  227;  described,  152; 
documents  concerning,  51;  drawing  of, 
68;  early  years,  61-70,90,95-97,  119-25; 
factor  at,  62-63,  7«.  75-77.  80-81,  96; 
feud,  63-64;  garrison,  60,  62,  78,  89, 
102,  105-6,  140;  life  at,  described, 
154-55;  massacre,  70,  76,  90,  95-96,  105- 
7,  118-19,  1*5.  179,  213,  236;  monu- 
ment, 96,  227;  provisions  for,  121; 
site  advantageous,  93 ;  surgeons,  63,  70, 
106.  See  also  Chicago. 


INDEX 


281 


Fort  Frontenac  (Quataraquouy),  French  at, 
30. 

Fort  Gratiot,  Storrow  at,  52. 

Fort  Holmes,  at  Mackinac,  74. 

Fort  Meigs,  route  via,  78,  82. 

Fort  Niagara,  garrison  at,  140. 

Fort  Pimetoui  (Pemitewit,  Permetawi), 
location,  46;  mission  at,  43. 

Fort  St.  Joseph,  location,  57. 

Fort  St.  Louis,  Cavelier  at,  25,  33;  expedi- 
tion from,  to  Chicago,  21;  Jesuits  at- 
tempt to  destroy,  31;  Joutel  describes, 
27-28;  Tonty  at,  10. 

Fort  Snelling,  expedition  via,  54. 

Fort  Wayne,  express  from,  116;  important 
center  of  communication,  93;  Indians 
near,  125;  Indians  visit,  III;  military 
outpost,  50;  native,  67;  route  via,  54, 
9°.  93.  !°5.  i»9,  in,  114;  succor  for 
Fort  Dearborn  from,  105-6;  tour  from, 
to  Chicago,  55-60;  visited,  52,  64,  78, 
82,  92,  109,  119. 

Fort  Winnebago  (Wis.),  Indian  agent  at, 
96;  Jefferson  Davis  commands,  227; 
journey  from,  97. 

Fortieth  United  States  Infantry,  Varnum 
serves  in,  51. 

Fourlegs,  Indian  chief,  seeks  marriage  of 
Kinzie  to  daughter,  214. 

Fourth  United  States  Infantry,  in  Mexican 
War,  66. 

Fox  (Renards)  Indians,  on  the  Milwaukee 
River,  39;  defeat  of,  126;  hostility  of, 
1 1 ;  on  Green  Bay,  38. 

Fox  River  (111.),  called  "Pipctiwi,"  39;  in 
Black  Hawk  War,  137-39;  tributary  of 
the  Illinois,  103. 

Fox  River  (Wis.),  mouth,  99;  portage,  90; 
route  via,  n,  53;  tributary  of  Green 
Bay,  ford  and  rapids,  83. 

Fox-Wisconsin  Portage,  90. 

France,  Indian  accompanies  La  Salle  to, 
32;  press,  249;  traveler  from,  205. 

French,  accompany  Cavelier,  21;  at  Chi- 
cago, 62;  at  Mackinac,  73-75;  attacked 
by  Iroquois,  30;  establish  Detroit,  208; 
in  the  Illinois,  18;  marry  Indians,  43; 
on  the  St.  Joseph,  114;  propose  settle- 
ment on  the  Mississippi,  II ;  send  gifts 
to  Marquette,  17;  villages  described, 
114-15. 

From  Dublin  to  Chicago,  205;  reprint  from, 
267-73. 

Frontenac,  Louis  de  Buade,  count  de, 
adherent  of,  16;  opposition  to  Jesuit 
missions,  II. 

Frontenac,  Fort.     See  Fort  Frontenac. 

Fuller,  Henry  B.,  novelist,  criticizes  Chi- 
cago, 256-57;  The  Cliff-Dwellers,  256. 

Fur  Trade.     See  Indian  trade. 

Future  in  America,  205;  reprint  from,  259-62. 


Galena  (111.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  company 
at,  188-89. 

Galien  River,  mentioned,  53. 

Garden  City,  Chicago  called,  215,  221,  253. 

Germans,  at  Chicago,  211,  215,  225,  238; 
emigrants  perish  on  Lake  Erie,  208. 

"Ghent,  '  government  vessel,  72. 

Gold,  found  in  Australia,  131. 

Grand  Konomick  River.     See  Big  Calumet. 

Grand  Quoit,  Indian  village,  116. 

Grand  Prairie,  extent  of,  162,  169. 

Granite,  at  St.  Joseph,  91;  in  Wisconsin,  87. 

Grant,  Gen.  Ulysses  S.,  in  Mexican  War, 
66. 

Gratiot,  Fort.     See  Fort  Gratiot. 

Great  Lakes,  communication  with  Missis- 
sippi, 12;  control  of,  49;  region  settled, 
129. 

Great  River.     See  Mississippi. 

Greeley,  Horace,  describes  Illinois,  13. 

Green,  Sir  H.,  visits  Chicago,  227. 

Green,  Lady  — ,  visits  Chicago,  232. 

Green  Bay  (Wis.),  commandant,  97;  express 
to,  124;  factor  at,  71;  garrison,  99,  140; 
resident,  53;  route  via,  52-53,  62,  83, 
104,  143. 

Green  (Puants)  Bay,  explored,  99;  Indians 
on,  15,  38. 

Green  Bay  State  Gazette,  Mrs.  Baird  con- 
tributor, 53. 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  highest  point  between  St. 
Lawrence  River  and,  22;  inland  water 
communication  to  Atlantic  Ocean,  198; 
waters  of,  123. 

Gunther,  Charles  F.,  collection,  66. 

Halderman's  Grove   (111.),   Indian  council 

at,  138. 

Hall,  Rachel,  captured,  139. 
Hall,  Sylvia,  captured,  139. 
Hall,  Thomas  P.,  finds  copper,  124. 
Hall,  William,  massacred,  139. 
Hamilton,  Lieut.  Joseph,  at  Chicago,  60, 

62-63. 
Hamilton,   Col.   Richard,  in  Black  Hawk 

War,  138;  kindness,  141. 
Hannay,  James  O.,  From  Dublin  to  Chicago, 

205,  267-73;  visits  Chicago,  205. 
Harrisburg  (Pa.),  resident,  131. 
Harrison,  Carter,  mayor  of  Chicago,  226, 

228-29,  232. 
Harrison,     Gen.     William     H.,    campaign 

against  Tecumseh,  74. 
Harry,  negro  servant,  72. 
Harvard  University,  professor,  180. 
Hatchet,  as  Indian  present,  17. 
Hays,  Otto,  killed  at  Fort  Dearborn,  107. 
Heald,  Capt.  Nathan,  commandant  at  Fort 

Dearborn,   65,   76,    105;   escape,    125; 

in  massacre,  106;  official  report,  107. 
Heald,    Mrs.    Nathan,   rescued,    95,    125. 


INDEX 


Helm,  Linai  T.,  at  Fort  Dearborn  massacre, 

96,  106. 
Helm,  Mrs.  Linai,  account  of  Fort  Dearborn 

massacre,  70;  at  Chicago  in  1816,  96. 
"Hercules,"  wrecked,  107-8. 
Hesperothen.     Notes  from  a  Rambler  in  the 

United  States  and  Canada,  205;  reprint 


from,  225-33. 
Hickory  Grove  (111.), 
137- 


in  Black  Hawk  War, 


Hickory  tree,  petrified,  104. 

Hillsdale  County  (Mich.),  Latrobe  de- 
scribes, 143. 

History  of  Baptist  Indian  Missions,  161. 

Hoffman,  — ,  message  for,  65. 

Hoffman,  Charles  Fenno,  at  Chicago,  131, 
l67-75;  A  Winter  in  the  West,  131, 
161-75;  sketch,  131. 

Holmes,  Fort.     See  Fort  Holmes. 

Homes  of  the  New  World,  203;  reprint  from, 
207-16. 

"Hooshiers,"  natives  of  Indiana,  162. 

Hopson,  Lieut.  John  D.,  in  Chicago  garri- 
son, 123. 

Horse  race,  at  Chicago,  Hoffman  describes, 
171. 

Hoyt  memorial  tablet,  commemorates  Fort 
Dearborn,  227. 

Hubbard,  Gurdon  S.,  describes  feud  at 
Chicago,  64. 

Hudson  River,  locations  on,  61. 

Hull,  Gen.  William,  surrenders  Detroit,  65, 
105. 

Hull  House  Settlement,  mentioned,  256. 

Humboldt,  Friedrich  H.  Alexander,  Baron 
von,  traveler,  115. 

Huron,  Lake,  outlet,  73;  route  via,  143, 
186-87;  straits  from,  30,  73. 

Huxley,  Thomas  H.,  mentioned,  243. 

Illinois,  Cavelier's  party  returns  to,  23-24; 
Chicago  transportation  center,  197; 
climate,  27,  216;  described,  25-26;  In- 
dian title  extinguished,  129;  Indians  in, 
69,  125;  Jesuits  in,  40-41;  land  specu- 
lation, 195;  legal  rate  of  interest,  219; 
Methodism  in,  130,  135;  missions  in, 
19,  43;  population,  198,  216;  posts  in, 
120;  proposes  Chicago  Canal,  123; 
prairies,  180-81,  211-12,  162;  proposed 
cession  of  Indian  lands  in,  152;  re- 
sources, 197;  taxation  for  philanthropic 
work,  262;  visitor's  opinions  of,  13. 

Illinois,  Lake  of  the.     See  Michigan,  Lake. 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  construction, 
196,  199;  cost,  198;  described,  198;  im- 
portancetoChicago,l7o;  Iands,l98;  pro- 
jected, 170;  transportation  values,  197. 

"  Illinois  in  Spring-time,"  204;  reprint  from, 
221-24. 


Illinois  (Ilinois)  Indians,  at  Chicago,  15; 
Cahokia  branch  of,  43;  characteristics, 
30;  missionaries  to,  10,  37;  village,  16; 
visit  Marquette,  16-17. 

Illinois  River,  as  boundary,  58;  canal  con- 
nects with  Lake  Michigan,  198;  Chi- 
cago transportation  center  for  towns 
on,  197;  connection  with  Chicago 
River,  59;  discharge  of,  43;  head- 
waters of,  170;  hemp  on  banks  of,  25; 
highway  to  Mississippi,  Chicago  head 
of,  49;  Indians  on,  43-46,  63,  126; 
rapids  on,  33;  region  adjoining,  13; 
route  via,  10,  38,  41,  121;  tributaries, 
22,  34-  39.  57,  63,  90,  92-. 103-4;  waters 
of  Chicago  River  unite  with,  152. 

Imports,  decrease  of,  at  Chicago,  198. 

Impressions  of  the  West  and  South,  204; 
reprint  from,  217-20. 

Indian  affairs,  superintendent,  99. 

Indian  agent,  at  Chicago,  62,  104,  120, 
125,  141,  213-14;  at  Fort  Winnebago, 
96;  oppose  traders'  use  of  liquor,  1 15. 

Indian  Creek  (111.),  in  Black  Hawk  War, 

139- 

Indian  trade,  at  Mackinac,  75;  emporium 
for,  73;  prices,  1 6,  36,  115;  traders  in 
Indiana,  no,  115;  use  of  liquors  in, 
115.  See  also  Factory  system. 

Indian  trader,  at  Chicago,  62-64,  95-96;  at 
St.  Joseph,  115-16. 

Indian  treaty,  of  1833,  130,  146,  152-60, 
165-66. 

Indiana,  boundary,  120;  entrepot  for,  93; 
settlement,  162;  streams  in,  109,  lio- 
14;  trails  in,  111-13. 

Indianapolis  (Ind.),  Bennett  at,  263; 
Methodist  Conference  at,  135. 

Indians,  accompany  Cavelier,  21,  32,  35; 
Marquette,  10;  accuse  Tonty  of  aiding 
Shawnee,  44;  antiquities,  126;  around 
Chicago,  40,  62-63,  77.  125-26,  152, 
155;  burial  ground,  1 60;  captive  of,  213; 
caution,  86;  cede  lands,  129-30,  160; 
ceremonies,  85;  characteristics,  28-29, 
85,  89,  179;  cultivate  land,  26;  dances, 
179;  degeneration  of,  159;  demoralized 
by  liquor,  29,  115,  157-58;  deserted 
villages,  114;  famine  among,  116; 
food  and  customs,  85,  101;  goods  con- 
cealed from,  25;  government  protec- 
tion of,  81;  gray  hair  of,  115;  hunt  for 
whites,  99;  idols,  88;  Jesuits  attempt  to 
alienate  from  La  Salle,  31;  land  re- 
served for,  1 60;  long-bearded,  119; 
natural  paints,  115,  161;  on  Lake 
Huron,  186-87;  reside  at  Fort  St. 
Louis,  28;  removal  west  of  Mississippi, 
planned,  153;  settlement,  40,  56;  sugar 
camps  of,  162;  superstitious,  87, 125-26; 


INDEX 


283 


trade,  16,  36,  57;  trading  post,  163; 
treatment  of  women,  157;  treaty  with, 
130,  146,  152-60,  165-66;  unceded 
lands,  58;  village  life,  157;  woman 
chief  of,  45;  weapons,  86. 

Irish,  in  Chicago,  225;  traveler,  205. 

Iron  oxide,  causes  cqlor  in  bricks,  103-4; 
location  of  bed,  103;  used  for  paint,  101. 

Iron  pyrites,  near  Chicago,  91,  103;  near 
Milwaukee,  101-2. 

Iroquois  Indians,  attack  Fort  St.  Louis,  38: 
attack  Frenchmen,  30;  expedition 
against,  22,  28-29;  territory,  35; 
travelers  fear,  24,  36;  mentioned,  45. 

Irving,  Washington,  companion  of,  131. 

Irwin,  Matthew,  at  Green  Bay,  71;  charges 
against  Kinzie,  64;  detained,  72;  factor 
at  Chicago,  62-63,  7';  sketch,  71. 

Jackson  Grove  (111.),  in  Black  Hawk  War, 

137- 

Jacques,  accompanies  Marquette,  15-17. 

James,  Dr.  Edwin,  sketch,  116. 

Jefferson,  Joseph,  in  Chicago,  132;  Auto- 
biography, 132,  185-92. 

Jefferson  Sr.,  Joseph,  son's  reminiscences 
of,  185-92. 

Jefferson  Sr.,  Mrs.  Joseph,  son's  remi- 
niscences of,  185-92. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  administration,  61. 

Jefferson  Barracks  (Mo.),  storekeeper  at,  66. 

Jesuit  Relations,  reprint  from,  15-19. 

Jesuits,  attempt  to  thwart  La  Salle's  enter- 
prise, 31;  missions,  10-11,  37,  40,  43. 

Jewet.     See  Jouett. 

Jewitt,  Charles.     See  Jouett. 

Johnston,  William,  "Notes  of  a  Tour  from 
Fort  Wayne  to  Chicago,"  50,  55-60. 

Joliet  (111.),  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal 
lands  in,  198;  route  via,  181. 

Joliet.     See  Mount  Joliet. 

Jolliet,  Louis,  at  Chicago,  9;  explorations, 
II. 

Josephus,  mentioned,  68. 

Jouett  (Jewet,  Jewitt),  Charles,  Indian 
agent  at  Chicago,  60,  62. 

Joutel,  Henri,  journal  of  expedition,  lo-ll, 
21-36;  opinion  of  Illinois,  13. 

Juchereau,  Charles  de  St.  Denis,  command- 
ant at  Mackinac,  30. 

Kakalin  Rapids.     See  Kaukauna. 

Kankakee  (Kienkiki,  Teatiki,  Theakiki) 
River,  distance  from  Chicago,  199; 
marshes,  165;  portage  to,  57,  116; 
route  via,  42,  69;  source,  92;  tributary 
of  the  Illinois,  57;  unites  with  Des 
Plaines,  63,  104,  123.  See  also  Kan- 
kakee-St.  Joseph  Portage. 

Kankakee-St.  Joseph  Portage,  57,  1 16. 


Kaukauua  (Kakalin)  Rapids,  on  Fox 
River,  83. 

Keating,  William  H.,  historian  of  Long's 
expedition,  12,  54. 

Kennomick  River.     See  Calumet. 

Kentucky,  Methodism  in,  135. 

Kickapoo  (Kakinanpols)  Indians,  attack 
Cahokia  Indians,  43;  antiquities,  126; 
numbers,  125;  village,  126. 

Kienkiki  River.     See  Kankakee. 

Kingsford,  William,  reputed  author,  204. 

Kinzie,  Ellen,  married,  104. 

Kinzie  (Kinsey),  John,  accompanies  Cass, 
104;  at  Chicago,  57,  62,  76,  96;  chal- 
lenged, 63;  describes  massacre,  76, 
107;  homestead,  95;  murders  La 
Lime,  63-64. 

Kinzie,  Mrs.  John,  daughter,  96. 

Kinzie,  John  Harris,  parents,  96;  Indian 
agent  at  Fort  Winnebago,  96,  179; 
Fredrika  Bremer  visits,  213-14. 

Kinzie,  Mrs.  John  H.  (Juliette  A.),  account 
of  Fort  Dearborn  massacre,  70;  cap- 
tivity of  mother  of,  213;  Fredrika 
Bremer  visits,  213;  Harriet  Martineau 
visits,  179;  Wau  Bun,  69,  179,  213. 

Kinzie  family,  experiences  in  Chicago 
massacre,  179. 

Kipikawi.     See  Racine. 

Kirkland,  Joseph,  sketch,  230. 

Knives,  as  Indian  present,  17. 

Konomick  River.     See  Calumet. 

La  Fourche  River,  tributary  of  Lake  Mich- 
igan, 100. 

Laframboise,  Josette,  married,  75. 

La  Lime,  John,  interpreter  at  Chicago,  62; 
murdered,  63-64. 

Lands,  ceded  by  Indians,  129-30,  160; 
Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  198;  price 
of,  in  west,  210;  reserved  to  Indians, 
160;  sale  of,  at  Chicago,  177-78,  195- 
96;  speculation  in,  130,  132,  136, 

193-94- 

Laporte  (Ind.),  location,  162. 

La  Salle,  Robert  Cavelier  de,  death,  IO-M, 
24,  28-29,  31;  failure  of  expedition, 
10,  32;  fort  built  by,  42;  hostility  of 
Allouez  to,  28;  Parkman's  biography 
of,  mentioned,  II. 

La  Salle  (111.),  coal  at,  198;  Illinois  and 
Michigan  canal  lands  in,  198. 

La  Taupine.     See  Amoreau. 

La  Toupine.     See  Amoreau. 

Latrobe,  Charles  J.,  noted  for  Alpine  ex- 
ploits, 148;  Rambler  in  North  America, 
130-31,  143-60;  sketch,  130-31. 

Laval  University,  possesses  manuscript 
letter  of  St.  Cosine,  12. 

La  Violette,  — ,  missionaries  visit,  45. 


284 


INDEX 


Lead  mines,  in  Illinois,  26;  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, 102. 

Lebeau,  Mrs.  Emily,  of  the  Beaubien 
family,  96. 

Lee,  William,    pioneer    Methodist,  sketch, 

135- 

Le  May,  Pierre,  at  Chicago,  62. 

"Les  Poux,"  applied  to  Washington  Island, 
3.8. 

"Lexington,"  burning  of,  in  Long  Island 
Sound,  180. 

Lewiston  (N.  Y.),  route  via,  82. 

Library  of  Useful  Knowledge,  175. 

Lignite,  in  Lake  Michigan  sands,  118. 

Limestone,  as  a  basal  rock,  100;  in  Illinois, 
26,  59;  in  Wisconsin,  84;  underlies 
Chicago,  123-24. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  defends  theatrical  com- 
pany in  license  case,  192;  statue  of,  at 
Chicago,  257. 

Lindsay,  A.  B.,  closes  Chicago  factory,  81. 

Lindsay,  Col.  Crawford,  translates  St. 
Cosme's  letter,  12. 

Lockport  (N.  Y.),  founder,  207. 

London  Times,  Russell  correspondent  for, 
204. 

Long,  Maj.  Stephen  H.,  expedition  of  1823, 
109-26;  exploring  expeditions  men- 
tioned, 12,  53;  in  Arkansas,  113; 
letters  for,  mentioned,  116;  observa- 
tions, 118;  Rocky  Mountain  expedi- 
tion, 53,  116;  visits  Carey's  Mission, 
161. 

Long  Island  (N.  Y.),  Battle  of,  mentioned, 

ISO- 
Long  Island  Sound,  burning  of  vessel  in,  180. 
Lorton,  — ,  in  Black  Hawk  War,  138. 
Louisiana,  western,  ceded  to  United  States, 

49;  senator  from,  227. 
Louisville  (Ky.),  native,  74. 
L'ours,  Indian  chief,  44. 
"Louse    Island,"    applied    to    Washington 

Island,  38. 
Ludington  (Mich.),  site  of,  19. 

McClellan,  Gen.  George,  Kirkland  aid-de- 
camp to,  230. 

McCoy,  Rev.  Isaac,  History  of  Baptist 
Indian  Missions,  161;  Indian  mission- 
ary, 115,  161. 

McDowell,  Gen.  Irvin,  at  Chicago,  230. 

Mackay,  Aeneas,  accompanies  Cass,  104; 
sketch,  104. 

McKenzie,  — ,  theatrical  partner  of  Jeffer- 
son, 191-92. 

Mackinac  (Michilimaquinacq,  Michilima- 
quinak,  Micilimakinak,  Micilimaqui- 
nac,  Micilimaquinaq)  Island,  cap- 
tured, 105;  Cavelier  at,  36;  described, 
73-75;  distance  from  Chicago,  102; 
factor  at,  75;  location,  30,  38;  Mar- 


quette  buried  at,  10,  19;  merchant, 
65.  74;  P°rt,  72;  provisions  exported 
from,  121-22;  residents,  53,  95-97; 
route  via,  10,  21,  31,  53;  St.  Cosme  at, 
37;  traders  at,  57;  visited,  52,  62,  73, 

77,  95.  99-  104.  125- 

Mackinac  Straits,  ice  leaves,  74;  location,  73. 

McNeill,  Col.  John,  at  Chicago,  80. 

Madison  (Wis.),  founder,  99. 

Main  Poc.     See  Marpock. 

Manitou,  Indian  term  for  supernatural,  87. 

Manitowoc  (Manitowacky)  River,  Indian 
village  on,  lot. 

Marais,  Father.     See  Marest. 

Marble,  — ,  comedian,  186. 

Marest  (Marais),  Father  Gabriel,  mission- 
ary, 39.  43- 

Margry ,  Pierre,  prints  narrative  of  Joutel,  1 1 . 

Marpock  (Main  Poc),  Potawatomi  chief,  63. 

Marquette,  Father  Jacques,  Allouez  suc- 
ceeds, 28;  death  of,  19;  establishes 
Illinois  mission,  19;  gives  presents  to 
Indians,  17;  illness,  16,  18;  Indians 
visit,  17;  narrative  of,  9,  15-19;  opinion 
of  Illinois  country,  13;  sojourn  at 
Chicago,  15-19. 

Marshall  Field  &  Company,  254. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  at  Chicago,  130; 
prophecy  concerning  Chicago,  203; 
Retrospect  of  Western  Travel,  132; 
Society  in  America,  132,  177-84;  sketch, 
132- 

Maryland,  officer  from,  62,  67. 

Mascouten  (Mascoutin)  Indians,  on  the 
Milwaukee  River,  39. 

Mascoutin  Indians.     See  Mascouten. 

Mason,  Gen.  John,  superintendent  of 
Indian  trade,  letter  to,  64,  71. 

Massane  River,  tributary  of  the  Illinois,  42. 

Matagorda  Bay  (Texas),  La  Salle's  colony 
at,  24-25. 

Maumee  (Miami)  River,  as  boundary,  58; 
coal  on,  124;  communication  via,  78, 
82,  93;  sources,  92;  Storrow  tours,  53; 
tributary  of  Lake  Erie,  90. 

Maximilian,  prince  of  Wied,  map  cited,  22. 

Maxwell,  — ,  at  Mackinac,  64. 

Meigs,  Fort.     See  Fort  Meigs. 

Melwatik.     See  Milwaukee. 

Menominee  (Fals  Avpins,  Folles  Avoine) 
Indians,  act  as  guides,  83-85,  87;  boun- 
dary of  territory,  IOI,  126;  character- 
ized, 85;  chief,  84;  on  Green  Bay,  38; 
villages,  84-85,  IOI. 

Menominee  (Monomoni)  River,  at  Mil- 
waukee, 88. 

Mequin  (Spoon)  River,  as  a  boundary,  126. 

Methodism,  in  Chicago,  135-37,  '4°;  'n 
northern  Illinois,  130,  135. 

Mexican  War,  incidents  of,  66-67;  officers, 
104. 


INDEX 


285 


Mexico,  route  to,  90. 

Miami  (Muiamis)  Indians,  allies  of  Ameri- 
cans in  War  of  1812,  105,  107;  at  early 
Chicago,  40,  121 ;  hostility  of  Illinois 
Indians  to,  17;  mission  to,  57;  near 
Fort  Wayne,  125;  near  Niles  (Mich.), 
28;  settlements,  22,  42;  Vincennes  com- 
mandant among,  37. 

Miami  River,  of  Lake  Erie.     See  Maumee. 

Miamis,  River  of,  voyage  via,  37. 

Michigan,  candidate  for  governor,  99;  de- 
scribed, 143,  209-10;  forbids  capital 
punishment,  209;  militia  in  Black 
Hawk  War,  140;  money  relieves 
financial  crisis  at  Chicago,  196;  pine 
lumber  from,  197;  proposed  cession  of 
Indian  lands  in,  152;  speculation  in 
lands  in,  195;  strait  separates  from 
Canada,  208;  stream  in,  68;  trail  across, 
104;  Wisconsin  a  part  of,  99. 

Michigan  (Illinois,  Lake  of,  Mietpgan), 
Lake,  abundance  of  fish  in,  60,  118;  at 
Chicago,  68;  beach,  90-91,  loo-ioi, 
104-6,  116-18;  boundary  follows,  120; 
Cavelier's  party  on,  23,  35,  37-38; 
commerce  on,  122;  country  adjacent, 
93;  crossed,  210-11,  216;  described,  58, 
146-47,  164-65;  Fort  Dearborn  on,  227; 
Indian  villages  on,  87-88,  99;  junction 
with  Lake  Huron,  30;  land  speculation 
adjacent  to,  195;  lands  ceded,  130; 
Marquette  on,  10,  15,  19;  navigation, 
15-17;  proposed  canal  with  the  Illinois, 
170;  route  via,  II,  39,  53,  57,  64,  90,  95, 
97, 99-102,  122,  143,  186;  straits  leading 
to,  73;  topographical  survey,  104;  trail 
near  southern  shore,  144-45;  tribu- 
taries, 92,  109,  114,  152,  166;  water- 
shed, 87,  103,  115;  view  of,  89. 

Michigan  City  (Ind.),  growth  of,  162;  site, 
104. 

Michigan  Historical  Commission,  possesses 
translation  of  Joutel's  Journal,  II. 

Michigan  Territory,  Cass  governor  of,  53; 
value  of  land,  58. 

Michilimaquinacq,  Michilimaquinah.  See 
Mackinac. 

Michillimackinac.     See  Mackinac. 

Micilimakinak,  Micilimaquinac,  Micilima- 
quinaq.  See  Mackinac. 

Migipi,    Micissipi   River.     See   Mississippi. 

Midway  Plaisance,  at  Chicago,  261. 

Mietpgan,  Lake.     See  Michigan,  Lake. 

Millewackie  River.     See  Milwaukee. 

Milwakik.     See  Milwaukee. 

Milwaukee  (Wis.),  population,  233;  visited, 
39,  216,  232. 

Milwaukee  (Melwatik,  Millewackie)  River, 
as  a  boundary,  126;  Cass  at,  101;  dis- 
tance from  Chicago,  124;  Indians  on, 
39,  87-88,  101;  portage,  90,  101;  St. 


Cosme  at,  39.  See  also  Milwaukee- 
Rock  Portage. 

Milwaukee-Rock  Portage,  90,  101. 

Minot,  meaning  of,  27. 

Mirage,  in  Wisconsin,  87. 

Mirror,  as  Indian  present,  17. 

Missilimacjuinacq.     See  Mackinac. 

Mississippi  (Migipi,  Micissipi)  River,  afflu- 
ents of,  88;  as  boundary,  49,  57,  120; 
connection  with  lakes,  12,  90,  122; 
crossed,  189;  explored,  9,  53;  French 
settlement  on,  n;  Indians  on,  42-43; 
journey  to,  1  19;  lead  mines  on,  102;  pro- 
posed transportation  from  Chicago  via, 
197;  receives  Chicago  drainage,  256, 
265-66;  removal  of  Indians  west  of, 
planned,  153,  160;  route  via,  10,  n,  38, 
46.  54,  59;  significance  of  name,  22; 
tributary,  109;  watershed,  87,  103,  115. 

Mississippi  Valley,  Chicago  at  central  head 
of,  170;  missions  in,  II  ;  settled,  129. 

Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Review,  56,  64. 

Missouri,  boundary  of  Indian  land  reserva- 
tion, 160;  Methodism  in,  135;  mines  of, 
197. 

Mitchell,  W.,  Milwaukee  resident,  233. 

Mixcjgan,  Lake.     See  Michigan,  Lake. 

Mohawk  River,  value  of  land  in  valley  of, 
178. 

Monomoni  River.     See  Menominee. 

Montigny,  Frangois  Jolliet,  Seminary  priest, 
at  Chicago,  40-41,  44;  baptizes  child, 

45- 
Montreal,  French  procure  goods  at,  29-30, 

32;  education  at,  75;  resident,  96. 
Moravians,  minister,  130. 
Morenger,  Sieur  de_,  nephew  of  La  Salle,  32. 
Mormonism,  mentioned,  229. 
Morris,  Lieut.  —  ,  at  Chicago,  81. 
Mount  Joliet   (Juliet),  described,  42,  183; 

head  of  navigation,  103;  location,  182; 

portage   to,    123;   St.   Cosme  at,   41; 

visited,  182. 
Mud   Lake    (Petit   Lac),   on   Chicago-Des 

Plaines  portage,  122-23. 
Muiamis  Indians.     See  Miami. 
Muis,  M.  de,  child  given  to  missionaries  by, 


Nawaskingwe,  furs  carried  to,  16. 
Nes-cot-no-meg,  at  Chicago  massacre,  90. 
New  River,  tributary  of  Lake  Michigan, 

118-19. 
New   South   Wales    (Australia),   governor, 

MI. 

New  York  (state),  exports  from,  to  Chicago, 
198;  officer  from,  62. 

New  York  Central  Railway,  stockholder,  75. 

New  York  City,  architecture,  254;  banker, 
75;  compared  to  Chicago,  264;  effect  of 
Erie  Canal  on,  129;  editor,  61,  131; 


286 


INDEX 


resident,   132,  51;  route  via,  61,  64; 

visited,  82,  240-63. 

New  York  Courier  &  Enquirer,  editor,  80. 
New  York  Herald,  245,  247. 
New  York  Tribune,  13. 
Newport  (Ky.),  military  storekeeper  at,  66. 
Newspapers,  described,  246-47;  editorials, 

247;  reporters,  249-50;  headlines,  251. 
Niagara,  Battle  of,  80. 
Niagara,  Fort.     See  Fort  Niagara. 
Niagara  Falls,  obstruction,  90;  visited,  82, 

184,  207. 
Nicollet,  Joseph,  map  of  upper  Mississippi 

cited,  22. 

Nightingale,  Florence,  mentioned,  204. 
Niles    (Mich.),    Miami   near,   28;    mission 

school  at,  115;  resident,  210;  visited, 

143-44,  161- 
Nineteenth  United  States  Infantry,  officer, 

67. 

Noquest  Indians.     See  Noquet. 
Noquet  (Noquest),  Bay  de,  location,  38. 
Noquet  (Noquest)  Indians,  on  Green  Bay, 38. 
Norris,  Frank,  The  Pit,  269. 
North  Carolina,  native,  135. 
"Notes  of  a  Tour  from  Fort  Wayne  to 

Chicago,"  50,  55-60. 
Notre  Dame  University,  57. 

"Ocean,"  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie,  208. 

Ochepewag  Indians.     See  Chippewa. 

O'Fallon,  Capt.  John,  at  Mackinac,  74. 

O'Fallon  Polytechnic,  at  St.  Louis,  75. 

Ohio,  entrepot  for,  93;  exports  from,  to 
Chicago,  198;  officer  from,  68. 

Ohio  River,  transportation  via,  197;  tribu- 
taries, 55. 

Old  Flour,  Potawatomi  chief,  88. 

Oplain  River.     See  Des  Plaines. 

Osage  Indians,  155. 

Ottawa  (III.),  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal 
lands  in,  198;  in  Black  Hawk  War, 

138-39.  Hi- 
Ottawa    (Outaiwacs,    Outawacs)    Indians, 

cede   lands,    130;   defeat   Foxes,    126; 

near  Chicago,  125;  settlement,  37. 
Ouilmette,  Antoine,  at  Chicago,  62. 
Ouisconsin  River.     See  Wisconsin. 
Outaiwacs,  Outawacs.     See  Ottawa. 
Oiitre-Mer,   Impressions   of  America,   205; 

reprint  from,  235-52. 
Owens,    Col.    Thomas,    Indian    agent    at 

Chicago,  141. 
Oxen,  in  Illinois,  described,  42. 

Packer,  Lieut.  — ,  brutality,  72-73;  com- 
mands lake  vessel,  72. 

Panic  of  1837,  effect  on  Chicago,  130,  193- 
96. 

Pare  Vache  (The  Cowpens),  French  trading- 
house  at,  57. 


Parkman,  Francis,  biography  of  La  Salle, 

II;    procures    copy    of    St.    Cosme's 

letter,  12. 

Parks  Commission,  at  Chicago,  261. 
Payne,  John  Howard,  author  of  "Clari,  the 

Maid  of  Milan,"  190. 
Peangichia  Indians.     See  Piankashaw. 
Peat,  in  Lake  Michigan  sands,  118. 
Pekin  (111.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  company 

at,  190-91. 

Pemitewit.     See  Fort  Pimetoui. 
Pemstewi.     See  Peoria. 
Pennsylvania,  horse  trade  in,  78;  resident, 

71. 
Peoria  (111.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  company 

at,  190;  Methodism  in,  135. 
Peoria  (Pemstewi),  Lake,  Fort  Crevecoeur 

on,  22,  43;  region  between  mouth  of 

Illinois  and,  13. 

Pere  Marcjuette  River,  Ludingtpn  on,  19. 
Permetawi.     See  Fort  Pimetoui. 
Perrot,  Nicolas,  at  Chicago,  121. 
Perry,  Oliver  Hazard,  mentioned,  72. 
Peschwi  River.     See  Root. 
Petersburg  (Va.),  Varnum  resides  at,  52. 
Petit  Journal,  247. 
Petit  Lac.     See  Mud  Lake. 
Philadelphia  (Pa.),  route  via,  64,  119. 
Piankashaw   (Peangichias)   Indians,  settle- 
ment, 42. 
Pierce,    Capt.    Benjamin    K.,    marries    at 

Mackinac,  75,  83. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  president,  75,  83;  sister, 

80. 
Pierce,  Lieut.  John,  accompanies  Storrow, 

52;  army  officer,  75;  at  Green  Bay,  83. 
Pierre,  accompanies  Marquette,  15,  17. 
Pike,  Maj.  Zebulon  M.,  report  to,  65. 
Pike's  Peak,  early  name,  116. 
Pine  lumber,  price  of,  197. 
Pine  River,  tributary  of  Lake  Michigan, 

lift. 

Pinet,  Father  — ,  at  Chicago,  40;  mission- 
ary, 43-44;  St.  Cosme  meets,  41. 
"Pioneer,"  packet  boat  on  Erie  Canal,  185. 
Pipctiwi  River.     See  Fox. 
Pistakee  Lake,  near  head  of  Fox  River,  39. 
Pit,  The,  269. 

Pittsburgh  (Pa.),  route  via,  64,  1 16. 
Plainfield  (Walker's  Grove,  111.),  in  Black 

Hawk  War,   138,   140-41;   Methodism 

at,  135. 

Plein  River.     See  Des  Plaines. 
Pointe  aux  Iroquois,  route  via,  37. 
Pontiac's  War,  Fort  St.  Joseph  destroyed, 

57- 

"Porcupine,"  government  vessel,  72-73. 

Porter,  Gen.  Fitz  John,  Kirkland  aid-de- 
camp on  staff  of,  230. 

Potawatomi  (Pottawattomies,  Poutewata- 
mis,  PoQtoQatamis,  Poutoutamy,  Poux) 


INDEX 


287 


Indians,  at  Fort  Dearborn  massacre, 
63,  106-7,  118-19,  125;  on  Milwaukee 
River,  39,  87-88,  101;  boundaries  of 
territory,  101,  126;  cede  lands,  130, 
160;  characteristics,  155-56;  defeat 
Foxes,  126;  habitat,  23,  36,  125; 
Illinois  Indians  go  to,  17;  in  Black 
Hawk  War,  137;  in  St.  Joseph's  valley, 
91,  161;  language,  121,  125,  156;  marry 
whites,  62;  met  on  route,  in,  149; 
numbers,  125;  on  Green  Bay,  15,  38; 
race  with  whites,  67;  settlement,  39; 
treaty  with,  143,  153,  158-60. 

Potawatomi  Island.  See  Washington  Is- 
land. 

Pottawattomie  Indians.     See  Potawatomi. 

Poughkeepsie  (N.  Y.),  resident,  61,  64. 

Pourtales,  fellow-traveler  of  Latrobe,  146, 
148-49. 

Poutewatami,  Pofitoflatamis,  Poutoutamy, 
Poux  Indians.  See  Potawatomi. 

Powder,  Illinois  Indians  desire,  17;  present 
to  Indians,  44. 

Prairie  du  Chien  (Wis.),  expedition  via, 
53-54;  resident,  96;  site,  102. 

Prices,  in  fur  trade,  115. 

Prussia,  Chicago  exports  meat  to,  243. 

Puants,  Bay  de.     See  Green  Bay. 

Pullman,  Col.  George  Mortimer,  manufac- 
turing enterprise  of,  230. 

Pullman,  car  factory,  230-31 ;  town,  231. 

Puthuff,  Maj.  William  H.,  celebrates  mar- 
riage, 76. 

Quaife,  M.  M.,  Chicago  and  the  Old  North- 
west, 62,  64,  68,  81,  106,  141. 

Quapaw  (Acanscas,  Akanscas)  Indians, 
journey  of  missionaries  to,  37-46. 

8uataraquouy.     See  Fort  Frontenac. 
uebec,  captured  by  British,  61;  resident, 

12. 

"Queen  of  the  Lake,"  Chicago  called,  214. 
Quincy  (111.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  company 

at,  190. 
Quinetonant  River,  Cavelier's  party  at,  35. 

Racine  (Wis.),  location,  39;  visited,  233. 

Railroads,  center  at  Chicago,  218;  import- 
ance of,  in  America,  244. 

Raisin  River,  route  via,  82. 

Rambler  in  North  America,  130;  reprint 
from,  143-60. 

Red  River,  exploration,  54. 

Renard  Indians.     See  Foxes. 

Revolutionary  War,  officers,  64;  veteran 
of,  146,  150. 

Rice,  Luther,  interpreter  at  treaty,  159. 

Rifle  corps,  at  Mackinac,  74. 

Riley,  Capt.  — ,  near  Fort  Wayne,  109. 

Roberts,  Bishop  Robert  R.,  appointments, 
135- 


Robinson,  Alexander,  interpreter,  125-26; 
sketch,  125. 

Rochester  (N.  Y.),  founder,  207. 

Rock  (A  la  Roche)  River,  as  a  boundary, 
126;  headwaters,  88;  portage  to,  90, 
101. 

Rocky  Mountains,  as  boundary,  162; 
explored,  53,  116. 

Ronan,  Ensign  George,  in  Chicago  massa- 
cre, 106;  sketch,  106. 

Root  (Peschwi,  Schipicoten)  River,  settle- 
ment at  mouth  of,  39;  visited,  88-89. 

Rouensa  (Rouensas,  Rpuenssas),  Illinois 
chief,  missionaries  visit,  43-44. 

Rum  village,  on  the  St.  Joseph,  114-15. 

Russell,  William  H.,  Hesperothen.  Notes 
from  a  Rambler  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  205,  225-33;  sketch,  204-5. 

Russia,  American  engineer  in,  68. 

Sac  River.     See  Sauk. 

St.  Clair,  Gen.  Arthur,  defeat,  64. 

St.  Clair,  Lake,  connection  with  Lake  Erie, 
208;  route  via,  62. 

St.  Clair  River,  voyage  via,  62. 

St.  Cosme,  Jean  Francois  Buisson  de,  letter 
of,  concerning  missionary  expedition, 
12,  37-46;  massacred,  12;  opinion  of 
Illinois,  13. 

St.  Francois,  Fathers  of,  Illinois  Indians 
bear  message  to,  17. 

St.  Gaudens,  Augustus,  sculptor,  257. 

St.  Joseph  (Mich.),  trail  to,  64,  90;  village 
at,  114-15. 

St.  Joseph  (Ind.),  route  via,  81. 

St.  Joseph,  Fort.     See  Fort  St.  Joseph. 

St.  Joseph  River  (Mich.),  as  a  boundary, 
126;  crossed,  57,  161;  described,  90-91, 
114;  Indians  of,  125;  mouth,  68;  port- 
age from,  57,  116;  proposed  steamboat 
communication  with  Chicago,  153; 
route  via,  144;  source,  92;  tributary  to 
Lake  Michigan,  125;  tributaries,  56, 
114;  transportation  on,  93.  See  also 
Kankakee-St.  Joseph  Portage. 

St.  Joseph  River,  tributary  of  Maumee,  92, 
114. 

St.  Lawrence,  Gulf,  navigation,  90. 

St.  Lawrence  (Laurence)  River,  highest 
point  between  Gulf  of  Mexico  and,  22; 
Iroquois  attack  French  on,  30;  navi- 
gation, 32. 

St.  Louis  (Mo.),  barracks  at,  66;  distance 
from  Chicago,  103,  121;  institutions, 
75;  Methodism  in,  135-37;  P"ce  of 
lumber  at,  197 ;  resident,  74;  stage  route 
from  Chicago,  174. 

St.  Mary's  River,  settlement  on,  109; 
tributary  of  Maumee,  92. 

St.  Peter's  River,  exploration,  53-54;  factory 
at,  80. 


288 


INDEX 


St.  Petersburg  (Russia),  American  engineer 
at,  68. 

Sakis  Indians.     See  Sauk. 

Salt,  as  Indian  present,  85. 

Sandstone,  in  Illinois,  26. 

Sandusky  (Ohio),  Varnum  factor  at,  51. 

San  Francisco  (Cal.),  Archer  at,  253. 

Sangamon  River,  Indian  battle  on,  126. 

Saratoga  (N.  Y.),  in  the  Revolution,  64. 

Sauk  (Sakis)  Indians,  on  Green  Bay,  38. 

Sauk  (Sac)  River,  tributary  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, IOI. 

Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Indians  from,  125; 
visited,  116. 

Say,  Thomas,  naturalist,  no,  125. 

Scandinavians,  emigrants,  216. 

Schenectady  (N.  Y.),  Jefferson's  theatrical 
company  at,  185. 

Schindler,  Mme.  Therese,  at  Mackinac, 
.95-96. 

Schipicoten  River.     See  Root. 

Schoolcraft,  Henry  Rowe,  historian  of 
Cass's  expedition,  53-54;  opinion  of 
Illinois,  13;  prophesies  concerning 
Chicago,  12;  tour  of  1820,  journal,  re- 
print, 99-108. 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  at  Chicago,  67;  in 
Black  Hawk  War,  141-42. 

Second  United  States  Infantry,  at  Fort 
Dearborn,  140. 

Seminary  of  Quebec,  missionary  venture, 
ii. 

Seminary  priests,  missionary  expedition, 
37-46. 

Seny  Indians.     See  Cenis. 

Shabbona,  Potawatomi  chief,  69-70. 

Shaw,  Bernard,  mentioned,  257. 

Shawnee  (Chachouannons,  Chahouannons, 
Chawanons)  Indians,  aid  whites,  30; 
chief,  at  battle  of  Thames,  69;  son  of 
chief,  accompanies  La  Salle,  33;  Tonty 
accused  of  supplying  arms  to,  44. 

Shea,  John  G.,  publishes  letter  of  St.  Cosme, 
12. 

Sheboygan  (Skeboigan)  River,  tributary  of 
Lake  Michigan,  101. 

Shenstone,  William,  Poems,  copy  at  Chi- 
cago, 66. 

Sheridan,  Gen.  Philip,  at  Chicago,  227, 
230. 

Shikagu  River.     See  Skunk. 

Shirreff,  Patrick,  Tour  through  North 
America,  145;  traveler,  145. 

Sieue  Indians.     See  Sioux. 

Sinclair,  Upton,  mentioned,  269. 

Sioux  Indians,  war  with  Foxes,  38. 

Skeboigan  River.     See  Sheboygan. 

Skunk  (Checaguar,  Shikagu)  River  (la.), 
varied  names  for,  22. 

Slate,  in  Illinois,  26. 


Smith,   Dr.   William   C.,   surgeon  at  Fort 

Dearborn,  63. 

Snelling,  Fort.     See  Fort  Snelling. 
"Snipe,"  fellow-traveler   of   Latrobe,   146, 

148,  151,  155. 

Soapbanks,  below  Milwaukee,  124. 
Society  in  America,  132;  reprint  from,  177- 

84. 

South  Chicago,  259-60. 
Spaniards,  capture  Fort  St.  Joseph,  57. 
Spoon  River.     See  Mequin. 
Springfield  (111.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  com- 
pany   at,     190;    theatre    built,     191 ; 

license  against  theatres  revoked,  192. 
Spy  River,  route  via,  55. 
Starved  Rock.     See  Fort  St.  Louis. 
Stick  (Des  Bois)  River,  tributary  of  Lake 

Michigan,  1 1 8. 
Storrow,  Judge  Samuel  A.,  journal,  52-53; 

opinion  of  southeastern  Wisconsin,  12; 


"Tour  of  the  Northwest,"  83-93. 
t.  Jo 
114-15. 


Strawberry    village,    on    the    St.    Joseph, 


Sturgeon  Bay,  described,  loo;  Marquette 
at,  15;  portage,  100-102. 

Styx  River,  significance  of  name,  58. 

Sulphur  springs,  in  Wisconsin,  83. 

Superior,  Lake,  route  via,  54. 

Sutherland,  Duke  of,  at  Chicago,  225,  228- 
29;  at  Milwaukee,  233;  interview  with 
Jefferson  Davis,  226-27;  traveler,  205. 

Swearingen,  Lieut.  James  S.,  aids  in  build- 
ing Fort  Dearborn,  65,  68;  career, 
68-69;  diary  quoted,  68. 

Syracuse  (N.  Y.),  Jefferson's  theatrical 
company  at,  1 86. 

Taylor,    Maj.    Zachary,    commandant    at 

Green  Bay,  83. 

Teatiki  River.     See  Kankakee. 
Tecumseh,  Indian  leader,  63,  74;  nephew, 

69- 

Tennessee,  Methodism  in,  135. 

Terre  Coupe  (Turcope),  Indian  settlement, 

57- 

Terre  Coupe  Prairie,  route  via,  161. 
Texas,  La  Salle's  expedition  to,  10. 
Thames,  Battle  of,  69. 
Theakiki  River.     See  Kankakee. 
Theatres,  early,  described,  191. 
Third    United   States   Infantry,   at   Green 

Bay,  83. 
Thompson,    Lieut.    Robert,    at    Chicago, 

60,  62. 

Thread,  as  Indian  present,  85. 
Thwaites,     Reuben    Gold,    editor,     Early 

Western  Travels,  1 08;  Jesuit  Relations, 

15;  secures  translation  of  St.  Cosine's 

letter,  12. 
"Tiger,"  lake  vessel,  76. 


INDEX 


289 


Tippecanoe,  Battle  of,  74,  105. 

Tiret,  Indian  chief,  Tonty  interviews,  44. 

Tobacco,  as  Indian  present,  85;  Indians 
crave,  1 6. 

Tomah  (Tomay),  Menominee  chief,  84-85. 

Tonty,  Henri  de,  accused  by  Indians  of 
aiding  Shawnee,  44-45;  at  Chicago-Des 
Plaines  portage,  41 ;  at  Fort  St.  Louis, 
IO,  27-28,  32;  death,  n;  expedition  to 
Quapaw,  37-46;  Indians  esteem,  45; 
leads  band  against  Iroquois,  21-22, 
28-29;  letter  of  Cavelier  to,  mentioned, 
21 ;  letter  of  credit  to,  II,  31;  priva- 
tions of,  24;  sends  messenger  to  Chi- 
cago, 34. 

Toronto  (Can.),  letters  published  at,  204; 
rents  in,  219. 

Tour  through  North  America;  together  with 
a  Comprehensive  View  of  the  Canadas, 

145- 

"Tracy,"  lake  boat,  69. 

Trail  (Du  Chemin,  Du  Schmein,  Du  Sma) 
Creek,  route  via,  57;  southeast  of 
Chicago,  91,  104,  107;  valley,  117. 

Treaty  of  1833,  negotiations  at  Chicago, 
!53.  159-60;  terms  of,  160. 

Trowbridge,  Charles  C.,  on  Cass's  expedi- 
tion, 99;  sketch,  99. 

Tsonontouan,  Iroquois  settlement,  29.     . 

Turcope.     See  Terre  Coupe. 

Twelfth  Illinois  Infantry,  Kirkland  serves 
in,  230. 

Ulster  County  (N.  Y.),  resident,  61. 

Uniontown  (Pa.),  resident,  71. 

University  Extension  Movement,  256. 

University  of  Chicago,  growth  of,  256. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  Keating  pro- 
fessor at,  54. 

Utah  Territory,  governor,  99. 

Utica  (N.  Y.),  Jefferson's  theatrical  com- 
pany at,  185;  route  via,  82. 

Van  Voorhis,  Dr.  Isaac,  at  Fort  Dearborn, 

70,  1 06;  sketch,  1 06. 
Varnum  Sr.,  Jacob,  death,  80. 
Varnuni,  Jacob  B.,  factor  at  Fort  Dearborn, 

71,  96;  "Journal,"  52,  71-81;  wife  of, 
53;  sketch,  51-52. 

Varnum,  James,  death,  80. 

Varnum,  John  M.,  compiles  family  geneal- 
ogy, 52- 

Varnum,  Joseph  Bradley,  factor  and  com- 
missary at  Fort  Dearborn,  59-60; 
letter,  80;  sketch,  75. 

Vermilion,  as  Indian  present,  85. 

Victor,  coachman,  163-64,  166. 

Vincennes,  Jean  Baptiste  Bissot,  Sieur  de, 
conducts  party  to  Miami,  39;  sketch, 
37- 


Wabash  Railway,  stockholder,  75. 

Wabash  (Miamis,  River  of)  River,  as  a 
boundary,  58,  126;  communication  via, 
93;  grapes  on  banks  of,  25;  sources, 
92,  no;  tributary  of,  55;  mentioned,  12. 

Walker,  Capt.  James,  in  Black  Hawk  War, 

139- 
Walker,  Jesse,  pioneer  Methodist,  135-37; 

sketch,  135. 

Walker's  Grove  (111.).     See  Plainfield. 
War  of  1812,  battles,  80;  British  Indians  in, 

63,  67,  84,  105;  Buffalo  destroyed,  71; 

contractor,    75;    Detroit    surrendered, 

65-66,   79,   105;  officers,  66,   74.     See 

also  Fort  Dearborn  massacre. 
Washington   (D.  C.),  capital,  61-62;  resi- 
dent, 52;  visited,  263. 
Washington  (111.),  resident,  141-42. 
Washington     Island,     called     Potawatomi 

Island,  15,  38. 
Wau  Bun,  69,  179,  213. 
Wayne.     See  Fort  Wayne. 
Webb,  James  Watson,  at  Chicago,  80. 
Wells,  H.  G.,  Future  in  America,  205,  259- 

62;  visits  Chicago,  205. 
Wells,  Col.  Samuel,  leads  expedition,  56. 
Wells,  Capt.  William,  comes  to  assistance 

of   Fort    Dearborn,    105;    killed,    106; 

sketch,  1 06. 
West  Point  Academy,  68,  154;  graduates, 

1 06;  professor,  104. 
Westmoreland  (Va.),  native,  68. 
Wheeling  (W.  Va.),  expedition_via,  54. 
Whig  party,  in  Michigan,  99. 
Whisky,  sold  to  Indians,  158. 
Whistler,    George    Washington,    engineer, 

67-68. 

Whistler,  James  A.  McNeill,  ancestors,  68. 
Whistler,    Capt.    John,    at    surrender    of 

Detroit,  65;  career,  64,  66;  command- 
ant   at    Chicago,    60,    62-63,    65,    69; 

establishes    Fort    Dearborn,    59;    first 

journey  to  Chicago,  64,  68;  letter,  65. 
Whistler  Jr.,  John,  officer,  67. 
Whistler,  William,    commandant    at  Fort 

Dearborn,   66,    140-41;   death,   67;   in 

Mexican  War,  66-67. 
"White  City,"  at  Chicago,  238-39. 
White   Pigeon   (Mich.),  Hoffman  at,   161; 

visited,  131. 
White    Pigeon    Prairie    (Mich.),    Latrobe 

crosses,  144. 
Wild  Onion  River,  early  name  for  Chicago 

River,  90. 
Wild  rice   (Zizania  aquatica),  as  food  for 

birds,  125;  as  Indian  food,  85. 
Willshire,  settlement  on  River  St.  Mary,  109. 
Wilson,  Gen.  James  Grant,  "Chicago  from 

1803    to    1812,"    51,    61-70;    reputed 

author,  171;  sketch,  61. 


290 


INDEX 


"  Windy  City,"  Chicago  called,  254. 
Winnebago,  Lake,  described,  84;  land  south 

of,  86;  route  to,  83;  village  on,  84. 
Winnebago  Indians,  hostile,  84-85;  Kinzie 

Indian  agent  to,  179. 
Winnipeg,  Lake,  expedition  via,  54^. 
Winter  in  the  West,  A,  131;  repnnt  from, 

161-75. 
Wisconsin,  effect  of  Black  Hawk  War  in, 

129;    Methodism    in,    135;    mines    of, 

197;  pine  lumber  from,  197;  residents, 

214;    speculation    in    land    in,     195; 

Storrow's   opinion    of,    12;    territorial 

judge  and  governor,  99. 
Wisconsin    Historical    Collections,    53,    75, 

99;  reprint  from,  95-97- 
Wisconsin   (Ouisconsin,   Wiskonsin)   River, 

portage,  90;  route  via,  1 1,  38,  53,  84. 


Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society,  library, 
52,  132;  Thwaites  superintendent,  12. 

Wolcott,  Dr.  Alexander,  at  Chicago,  104, 
125;  sketch,  104. 

Wolfe,  Gen.  James,  at  Quebec,  61. 

Wolves,  compared  to  dogs,  119;  dexterity 
in  catching  prey,  35;  near  Chicago,  63, 
108,  119,  131;  hunt  described,  171-74. 

Wright,  Gen.  Horatio  G.,  at  Chicago,  226. 

Yale  College,  graduate,  104. 
Your  United  States,  205;  reprint  from,  263- 
66. 

Zizania  Aquatica.     See  Wild  Rice. 
Zueblin,  Prof.  Charles,  criticism  of  Chicago, 
256. 


RALPH  FLETCHER  SEYMOUR 


